Schedule

In-house counsel are often told to “build a brand,” but few are given practical guidance on what that actually means inside a healthcare organization. This session takes a real-world approach, walking through common career moments from first 90 days in-house to navigating leadership roles and organizational change. Using concrete scenarios, panelists will discuss how lawyers build credibility, develop influence, and position themselves for long-term success both inside and outside their organizations.

• Develop a practical roadmap for your first 90 days, first year, and early career in-house
• Build credibility and influence through operational understanding and internal relationships
• Navigate mid-career growth, expanding scope, and increasing visibility within the organization
• Prepare for leadership transitions, acquisitions, and other structural changes that impact your role
• Create an external professional identity that supports long-term career mobility

• Hear from those criminal prosecutors leading the DOJ’s Health Care Fraud Unit and its newly established Health & Safety Unit on issues relevant to health law professionals, including changing and current enforcement themes, resource allocations, and the strategic direction shaping federal prosecutions
• Recent policy updates and shifts, including Department-wide voluntary self-disclosure expectations, data-driven investigative methods, and corporate compliance evaluation frameworks—to help counsel anticipate how these shifts influence risk exposure
• Emerging areas of scrutiny, including technology-enabled fraud, AI-related billing risks, and evolving theories of liability that may drive the next wave of investigations
• Practical guidance for strengthening compliance programs from a conversation which will provide actionable insights on aligning corporate compliance programs with DOJ expectations
• Strategic considerations for counsel during government interactions, including best practices for navigating how to structure internal investigations, respond effectively to government inquiries, and demonstrate a culture of compliance that can influence prosecutorial discretion

• Live demonstration of utilizing various AI tools
• Prompting overview and tips
• Use case alignment with different AI tools
• Walk-through of practical use cases, including creating playbooks for form agreements and leveraging AI to review, redline, generate issues lists, and prepare for negotiation calls for agreement negotiations

• Beyond the Law–Understanding the Business Model and Financial Drivers
• Master the Art of Translation–From Legalese to Business Impact
• Proactive Risk Intelligence–From Reactive fire-fighter to Strategic Forecaster
• Strategic Resource Allocation–The Legal Department as a Business Unit
• Cultivate Authentic Relationships and Master Deep Listening

This presentation will examine the increasing adoption of alternative fee arrangements within health care legal departments. The session will focus on how these models are transforming the way legal budgets are managed and how they contribute to greater financial predictability and alignment with organizational priorities. Attendees will gain an understanding of the various types of alternative fee arrangements, including flat fees, contingency fees, and hybrid structures, with an emphasis on how these differ from traditional hourly billing and what they mean for internal legal teams. The session will also address common challenges faced by in-house counsel when implementing alternative fee arrangements, such as evaluating risk, ensuring clear communication with outside counsel, and aligning legal services with strategic goals. Real-world case studies will be presented to highlight best practices, demonstrate successful outcomes, and showcase the impact on both legal service delivery and client satisfaction within health care settings.

• Key types of alternative fee arrangements—including flat fees, contingency fees, and hybrid models—and understand how each can improve predictability for health care in-house legal departments compared to traditional hourly billing
• The main benefits and challenges of implementing alternative fee schedules from the perspective of in-house counsel, including managing risk, budgeting, and ensuring value from outside counsel relationships
• Strategies for effective communication and collaboration between in-house teams and outside counsel when transitioning to or managing alternative fee arrangements
• Real-world case studies that illustrate how in-house counsel have successfully adopted alternative fee models, and the resulting impact on budget control, legal service quality, and client (organizational) satisfaction
• Best practices for structuring fee arrangements to meet the unique needs of health care organizations, ensuring alignment with internal priorities while supporting sustainable and high-quality legal services from outside counsel

• Hear from those criminal prosecutors leading the DOJ’s Health Care Fraud Unit and its newly established Health & Safety Unit on issues relevant to health law professionals, including changing and current enforcement themes, resource allocations, and the strategic direction shaping federal prosecutions
• Recent policy updates and shifts, including Department-wide voluntary self-disclosure expectations, data-driven investigative methods, and corporate compliance evaluation frameworks—to help counsel anticipate how these shifts influence risk exposure
• Emerging areas of scrutiny, including technology-enabled fraud, AI-related billing risks, and evolving theories of liability that may drive the next wave of investigations
• Practical guidance for strengthening compliance programs from a conversation which will provide actionable insights on aligning corporate compliance programs with DOJ expectations
• Strategic considerations for counsel during government interactions, including best practices for navigating how to structure internal investigations, respond effectively to government inquiries, and demonstrate a culture of compliance that can influence prosecutorial discretion

• Defining excellence in delivering in-house legal services
• Areas for performance improvement for in-house legal departments through technology, customer service, outside counsel management and other mechanisms
• Tools to increase in-house legal department performance such as technology/AI tools, contract management systems and outside counsel guidelines
• Developing and measuring plans and meaningful indicators to measure performance and excellence
• Guiding in-house departments in adapting to using performance enhancing tools and measurements to achieve excellence

• 3 years later, we'll revisit our previous guidance for lessons learned
• Choose metrics that drive performance and demonstrate value
• Align your metrics with the objectives of your organization
• Develop structures and processes for implementing, reviewing, and managing your metrics
• Win the hearts and minds of the reluctant and skeptical

This presentation will examine the increasing adoption of alternative fee arrangements within health care legal departments. The session will focus on how these models are transforming the way legal budgets are managed and how they contribute to greater financial predictability and alignment with organizational priorities. Attendees will gain an understanding of the various types of alternative fee arrangements, including flat fees, contingency fees, and hybrid structures, with an emphasis on how these differ from traditional hourly billing and what they mean for internal legal teams. The session will also address common challenges faced by in-house counsel when implementing alternative fee arrangements, such as evaluating risk, ensuring clear communication with outside counsel, and aligning legal services with strategic goals. Real-world case studies will be presented to highlight best practices, demonstrate successful outcomes, and showcase the impact on both legal service delivery and client satisfaction within health care settings.

• Key types of alternative fee arrangements—including flat fees, contingency fees, and hybrid models—and understand how each can improve predictability for health care in-house legal departments compared to traditional hourly billing
• The main benefits and challenges of implementing alternative fee schedules from the perspective of in-house counsel, including managing risk, budgeting, and ensuring value from outside counsel relationships
• Strategies for effective communication and collaboration between in-house teams and outside counsel when transitioning to or managing alternative fee arrangements
• Real-world case studies that illustrate how in-house counsel have successfully adopted alternative fee models, and the resulting impact on budget control, legal service quality, and client (organizational) satisfaction
• Best practices for structuring fee arrangements to meet the unique needs of health care organizations, ensuring alignment with internal priorities while supporting sustainable and high-quality legal services from outside counsel

This session is designed to provide an overview and discussion of in-house legal services to health care systems of various sizes and complexities. Specific topics to be covered:

• Aligning legal department organization structure with health system functions and ensure alignment with non-legal functions, including corporate responsibility/compliance, risk services, clinical functions/quality/patient safety
• Developing in-house expertise while maintaining health law generalization to leverage talent and ensure top-of-license practice of attorneys, paralegals, and assistants
• Effective utilization of outside counsel to deliver high value
• Leveraging technology to drive efficiency
• Building standardization through templates and standardized practice in order to dedicate attorney time to high-value work
• Developing and maintaining effective legal operations team in face of ever-changing legal challenges and strategic/financial objectives
• Deliver ongoing legal education and guidance to management and staff tailored to the issues affecting their departments
• Ensure effective use of contract management software to streamline contract lifecycle
• Develop and implement strategies to proactively address frequently recurring legal issues

• Live demonstration of utilizing various AI tools
• Prompting overview and tips
• Use case alignment with different AI tools
• Walk-through of practical use cases, including creating playbooks for form agreements and leveraging AI to review, redline, generate issues lists, and prepare for negotiation calls for agreement negotiations

• 3 years later, we'll revisit our previous guidance for lessons learned
• Choose metrics that drive performance and demonstrate value
• Align your metrics with the objectives of your organization
• Develop structures and processes for implementing, reviewing, and managing your metrics
• Win the hearts and minds of the reluctant and skeptical