AHLA 2020: Getting to Yes

AHLA 2020 Virtual In-House Counsel Program

Anne’s presentation “Getting to Yes: Executing a Successful Campaign to Launch a High Profile Health Sector Initiative,” focuses on how in-house counsel can play a unique and critically important role in assuring an integrated and multi-disciplinary approach to implementing high profile strategic initiatives in a manner that maximizes the likelihood of success, assures legal and regulatory compliance, engages all appropriate constituents across the organization (including governance), and makes judicious use of outside legal and non-legal consulting resources.

By advocating for and helping to implement an interdisciplinary project campaign strategy, legal counsel can serve as a proactive advocate for critically-important innovation by the health sector client. This campaign needs to include several elements, summarized below:

• Counsel should anticipate all regulatory and legal hurdles to the initiative. Depending on the extent of the controversy associated with the initiative, this may include planning for possible litigation and state or local legislative scrutiny. The more innovative the initiative, the more counsel also needs to anticipate gaps in current law or regulation that must be managed from a compliance and risk perspective.
• Counsel should include and engage all appropriate members of the client executive team in the campaign. In many cases, this will include key members of the senior management team, finance, strategy, communications, government affairs, and clinical affairs. The front end strategy should also incorporate as appropriate external legal, communications and government relations resources.
• At the early stages, there should be a proactive assessment not only of the potential regulatory and legal challenges, but also likely opposition or concern from competitors, elected officials, and community leaders. Prospective allies and advocates for the project should be identified, as well. A detailed game plan and timetable for approval should be developed; this should include a communications and media strategy.

Anne and her co-presenter, Dennis Culloton, CEO and President at Culloton & Bauer Luce Strategies, will also provide case studies and war stories to lend interest and practical guidance to the session. Among other examples, the speakers will describe challenges in facility closures and downsizings, entry into new geographic or service markets, and expansion of investor-backed health sector initiatives.

To learn more about the 2020 AHLA In-House Counsel Program, click here.