Excellence in health care requires excellence in health law. The American Health Law Association (AHLA) is the nation’s largest, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) educational organization devoted to legal issues in the health care field. We maintain excellence in health law by educating and connecting the health law community.

Our Mission and Our Members

AHLA’s mission is to deliver authoritative educational content and serve as a professional home for all who engage with health law.

With 12,000 members, AHLA’s membership is diverse not only in background but in their practice areas and settings. Members practice in law and consulting firms; academic, in-house, and in a variety of public sector work settings. They represent the entire spectrum of the health care industry: physicians, hospitals and health systems, health plans and health maintenance organizations, health insurers, life sciences, managed care companies, nursing facilities, home care providers, and consumers.

Learn more about our benefits of membership.

Strategic Plan

AHLA's 2023-2025 Strategic Plan was approved at the January 2023 Board Meeting and implemented in June 2023. This plan provides a blueprint for how AHLA will continue to evolve to meet the diverse needs of it members and stakeholders as they navigate changes in the practice of law as well as changes in health law and the health law industry. For more insights, you can watch our strategic plan videos.

Our Commitment to Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility

In principle and in practice, AHLA values and seeks to advance and promote diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible participation within the Association for all staff and members. Guided by these values, the Association strongly encourages and embraces meaningful participation of diverse individuals as it leads health law to excellence through education, information, and dialogue.

• Inclusion fosters an environment where individuals feel safe to engage and participate fully because they feel respected, free to express their ideas, and valued for their unique voice, perspective, and abilities.
• Diversity reflects the ways people are different from one another. This goes beyond the boundaries of race and gender to include culture, age, sexual orientation, ethnicity, socio-economic background, religion, neurodiversity, gender identity, experiences, disability, and invisible illness.
• Equity creates fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for individuals by establishing systems and processes that counteract social inequities and prevent the formation of barriers.
• Accessibility creates equitable access for individuals of all ability and experience.

Learn more about AHLA’s strategic partnership with The Diversity Movement and DEI resources for members by visiting the AHLA/TDM Partnership page. 

Discover how donor contributions fuel AHLA's commitment to DEI.

AHLA is committed to ensuring equitable access to our educational content. We are continually improving the user experience for everyone and applying the relevant accessibility standards. If you experience accessibility issues, please contact [email protected].

Our Governance

AHLA is governed by a 23-member Board of Directors, which typically meets twice a year in person and several times virtually. Directors serve on the following Board Committees:

• Education
• Executive
• Finance
• Governance
• Membership, Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility
• Nominating

In addition, AHLA draws volunteer from the membership who serve as leaders on Practice Groups, Conference Planning Committees, Special Councils, and Advisory Boards.

Learn more about our Governance & Leadership

Our History

On July 1, 1997, the National Health Lawyers Association and the American Academy of Healthcare Attorneys combined into a single organization called the American Health Lawyers Association, which created the nation's largest educational organization devoted to legal issues in the health industry.

On January 16, 2020 the Association changed its name to the American Health Law Association (AHLA) to better reflect its commitment to be an inclusive organization that educates and connects the entire health law community.

Learn more​ about our history of excellence.

What Is Health Law?

Health Law is the body of federal, state, and local laws, rules, regulations and cases that governs the health care industry, including the delivery of all health-related services to patients by all of its individual and institutional participants. The health care industry is very heavily regulated, and all of its activities and operations are subject to numerous, complex state and federal rules. Health lawyers have in-depth knowledge and experience working in this regulatory framework, and provide advice to hospitals, physician organizations, long term care facilities, home health agencies, health insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, as well as to physicians and other individual health care providers on how to comply with these rules. The practice of health law can focus on several different areas, the most significant of which include:

• Antitrust
• Behavioral Health
• Dispute Resolution
• Fraud and Abuse
• Governance
• Government Reimbursement
• Health Care Delivery Models
• Health Care Finance and Transactions
• Health Information
• Health Insurance
• Health Policy and Administration
• Labor and Employment
• Life Sciences
• Long Term Care
• Medical Staff, Credentialing, and Peer Review
• Patient Care Liability and Litigation
• Tax and Nonprofit