Article by Madison Cain ’26 accepted for publication in Annual Review of Law and Policy in Health and Social Work

CARLISLE, Pa.— Madison Cain ’26 has authored an article accepted for publication by the Annual Review of Law and Policy in Health and Social Work, a peer-reviewed scholarly journal “committed to advancing understanding and shaping innovation at the confluence of health policy, legal frameworks, and social work.” Her article is titled “Clinical Oversight or Managerial Power? Clarifying Supervisory Status in Physician Unionization.”

Cain wrote the article during the fall 2025 semester for Professor Samantha Prince’s “Employment Law Seminar.” Prince assisted Cain with individual feedback and advice throughout the semester, helping her to narrow the scope of the paper and select an issue to write about. Prince later encouraged Cain to use the Scholastica platform to submit her article for publication.

“It means so much to me to have my writing recognized, especially as a student, because I have worked very hard throughout my educational career to cultivate my writing skills,” said Cain, who is a senior editor on the Dickinson Law Review and vice president of the Business Law Society. “I become very invested in each paper I write, but especially this one, as I have always had a special interest in the health care industry overall.”

Her abstract outlines the focus of the article: “The rapid consolidation of the healthcare industry has fundamentally reshaped the role of physicians, transforming many from independent professionals into employees subject to corporate pressures, productivity metrics, and diminished clinical autonomy. Amid rising dissatisfaction and eroding professional independence, physicians are increasingly turning toward collective action as a means of reclaiming a meaningful voice in workplace conditions and patient care. Yet their eligibility to unionize remains clouded by a persistent doctrinal uncertainty: whether physician clinical oversight constitutes ‘supervisory’ authority that excludes them from National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) protections. This paper examines the historical, statutory, and doctrinal development of the supervisory exclusion under § 2(11) and its application to modern physician roles.”