In this episode of the MGMA Insights Podcast, Sr. Editor and host Daniel Williams speaks with Allen Alongi, MBA, PMP, SSGB, Physician Practice Manager at Northside Hospital in Marietta, Georgia, and newly appointed member of the MGMA Human Resources and Compliance Advisory Board. Alongi shares his journey from patient to healthcare leader; his passion for writing, reading, and mentorship; and strategies for building resilient teams in a challenging healthcare environment.
For MGMA members, the conversation offers actionable ideas on:
- Building stronger mentor–mentee relationships
- Using feedback from patients and employees to drive change
- Tackling burnout and staffing strain with realistic tools
- Leveraging MGMA content and community for ongoing growth
From Patient to Practice Leader
Alongi’s interest in healthcare started long before his first management role. As a teenager, he experienced the system from the patient side in a way that permanently shaped his outlook.
“When I was 14, I was diagnosed with Type I diabetes,” he recalled. “I went into a coma for a few days, woke up in the children’s hospital, and had no idea what was happening. From that point on, I was surrounded by neurologists, endocrinologists, physical therapists — for a whole journey.”
Those early encounters with the healthcare system ignited both curiosity and a sense of purpose. “I’ve always naturally stepped into leadership roles,” Allen said. “I started out in hospitality in New Orleans — it’s the heartbeat of the city — but eventually I took a hard look at long-term stability and what value I could contribute.”
His next move, into an operations role with HCA at Tulane, became a defining experience. Alongi oversaw the Tulane Institute of Sports Medicine, which he described as “an absolute animal” in terms of volume and complexity.
“In that experience, learning to deal with providers, learning to deal with the ins and outs of how things work, learning how to deal with staffing. And obviously staffing is the crux of a lot of our challenges,” he noted. “So that experience was probably one of the best of my careers and reinforced that I am where I wanted to be.”
Later, as director of operations for an allergy and ENT organization in Houston, he gained deeper exposure to growth and access. “Another great experience… I had some real high level experience as far as opening de novo clinics, bringing on new providers as well, and just really expanding the bandwidth of access for that group,” he said.
Today, Alongi serves as a physician practice manager within Northside’s physician enterprise, where his work centers on driving organizational priorities and he's given a fair amount of latitude to solve problems. “One of the things I enjoy most in this role is the autonomy to move projects forward,” he said. “Many of them align with our strategic initiatives — especially retention and patient experience.”
Retention and Patient Experience: Strategic Priorities
When a recruiter eventually reached out about Northside Hospital, Alongi saw an opportunity to move closer to the mountains while joining an organization that matched his priorities. “Northside’s just been a great organization, the best I’ve ever been a part of. They’re really focused on retention, not only for our frontline staff but for managers as well who want to grow. That’s all I want to do: grow.”
That focus on growth is central to Allen's view of retention — that it's not merely a staffing metric, it's a foundational element of organizational culture and performance. He spoke highly of the environment at his current place of work:
He also emphasized that retention and patient experience are inseparable priorities. He explained, “We’re plugging away and doing what we can to create a better opportunity for our patients to get in and to develop some of our coordinators at the clinics.”
His perspective shows that the way patients move through a clinic is directly affected by how supported and capable staff feel in their roles. The key insight here is that strengthening internal development and improving daily operations creates a workplace where people stay longer — and a care environment where patients feel seen, heard, and well served.
The Power of Mentorship
Mentorship has been a recurring theme in Allen’s career, and a topic he’s written about for MGMA. “The most important thing is that a lot of people look at the mentor-mentee relationship as one-way communication,” Allen said. “I think that’s traditional, and nowadays we have to look at what you want to get out of that yourself.”
He advises mentees to approach mentorship with preparation and purpose. “You’re being mentored, but you’re also going to teach yourself how to become that mentor,” he explained. “We’re not always mentees forever, so you have to keep that in the forefront of your mind.”
"[Make sure] you're not wasting your mentor's time," he continued. "If you're going in there with the same old questions or maybe just running in to just say, 'Hey, I was here for the meeting,' — great, you get a checkbox, but you're not getting the most out of that."
Alongi also practices what he preaches. Through the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), he is currently participating in a formal mentorship program. “I signed up ... because even though I've done these levels, I still want to be a mentee,” he shared.
For practice leaders, his message is straightforward: treat mentorship as a two-way, preparation-driven relationship, and use it to build the next generation of leaders inside your organization.
- MGMA members interested in a structured mentorship program can explore the new and improved MGMA Mentor Program.
Writing, Reading, and the Role of Reflection in Leadership
Alongi’s spark to write articles for MGMA ignited from a long-standing passion for literature and writing that shapes how he thinks and communicates. “If I could choose my dream job, I would be an author,” Allen shared. “I started reading when I was way younger, five or six, and then really started getting into classical literature."
"Something I really admire is the old classics,” he added. His favorite? The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, which he referred to in his last MGMA article. "The relationship between Edmond Dantès and Abbé Faria is such a strong parallel to mentorship," he continued, explaining that Edmond being a highly receptive mentee changed the course of his life.
Allen’s literary interests span genres and eras: Dumas, John Steinbeck, Thomas Wolfe, and Stephen King, to name a few. "I’m almost done with East of Eden, which is an absolutely massive novel,” he said. “Being able to put normal human interactions in a very digestible way that makes you think you’re in that position — that’s the beauty of writing.”
He pointed to Thomas Wolfe’s Look Homeward, Angel as a powerful example of stream-of-consciousness writing and noted that Stephen King’s storytelling keeps him engaged even though he doesn’t necessarily gravitate toward horror. Growing up, he was especially drawn to Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, connecting with the siblings’ difficult journey and returning to those books again and again.
But for Allen, reading isn’t just a pastime, it’s a leadership tool: “I feel like I have something inside me that I can put on paper,” he said. “Writing articles for MGMA has been a way to share insights and help others. It’s not just about operations; it’s about storytelling and connecting ideas.”
Using MGMA as a Toolkit for Better Decisions
Alongi’s connection to MGMA began when a previous employer was searching for a way to elevate managers and directors. “The group was thinking [of how to] get our managers and directors to a level where every single facet of the industry is something that they're familiar with?” he recalled.
Once they introduced him to MGMA’s certification curriculum, he quickly saw alignment with his day-to-day responsibilities. “I started taking a look, I was like, wait a second I do a lot of this stuff already,” he said. “And and actually, this is the stuff that I want to learn more of.”
That exposure changed how he approached ongoing learning and decision-making. “Looking not just at the certification but what MGMA has otherwise. Now that's one of my main sources when I'm looking for insight articles, when I'm looking for data to to, you know, support decision making or just primarily looking for any kind of trends or evolving technologies that we might not be using that we could be,” he explained. “And that is just it's a breadth of knowledge. It's great to know that something like MGMA exists.”
He also brings MGMA content directly into his leadership practice. “I promote MGMA all the time to my manager team,” he said. “Every we had our manager meeting this morning, and I always leave them with an article to take away just so we can learn a little more. So we're growing [and] not just growing stagnant with what we're doing day to day.”
Advice for Emerging Leaders
Allen’s advice for those looking to advance in healthcare leadership is clear:
- Be proactive in mentorship. “Latch on to mentors you find value in,” he said.
- Prepare for growth. “Go in with questions that matter — not just to check a box.”
- Stay connected to resources. “MGMA has been a terrific resource for insight articles, data, and trends.”
Ultimately, leadership is about adaptability and engagement. “Growing comfortable and understanding that if you really want to grow, you have to put in the effort,” Allen emphasized.
Allen’s Other MGMA Articles:
Other MGMA Resources:
- MGMA Certification - Demonstrate your skills and earn a recognized certificate of mastery.
Books Discussed:
- The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
- East of Eden by John Steinbeck
- Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe
- Align the Mind by Britt Frank
- Shatterproof by Tasha Eurich
- The Moviegoer by Walker Percy
- A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler)
