Director, Healthcare Operations Counsel

Ardent Health is a leading provider of healthcare in growing mid-sized urban communities across the U.S. With a focus on people and investments in innovative services and technologies, Ardent is passionate about making healthcare better and easier to access. Through its subsidiaries, Ardent delivers care through a system of 30 acute care hospitals, 24,000+ team members and more than 280 sites of care with over 1,800 affiliated providers across six states.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Director, Healthcare Operations Counsel (Healthcare Operations Attorney) prepares and reviews a variety of complex contracts and provides legal counsel, guidance and representation to the Company and its affiliated healthcare operations as requested on complex legal and operational issues. The ideal candidate will be experienced in day to day healthcare operations issues and physician and hospital contracts.

• Works with senior counsel to advise hospital leadership and corporate leadership on a wide range of matters relating to healthcare operations, general corporate transactions, regulatory and compliance issues, employment, medical staff issues, and patient concerns.
• Participates in the development of system policies and procedures and assists senior legal counsel in legal research.
• Drafts, reviews and negotiates contracts to ensure compliance with applicable statutes, case law, governmental regulations and Company policy guidelines. Analyze and advise business owners of contractual terms and their implications and finalize the agreement consistent with the risk tolerance of the Company, producing clean and accurate legal documents.
• Assists with compliance investigations as needed. Coordinates with Compliance Department.
• Participates in activities that increase legal knowledge, professional expertise, and the delivery of quality legal services.
• Requests and utilizes interdepartmental services as they pertain to the provision of legal services; establishes and maintains working relationships with all department personnel relative to the legal service function.
• Assists in development of policies, procedures and methods for achieving Company goals within appropriate legal parameters, such as generating competitive bid processes, creating form agreements, managing legal resources, and providing advice and input on complex business scenarios.
• Uses skill, knowledge and experience to assist Company in amicably resolving disputes with third parties.

Education:

• Juris Doctor from an accredited law school
• Current license to practice law

Required Experience:

• Must have 4+ years of experience in healthcare law, including but not limited to, EMTALA, HIPAA, Stark, ACA, fraud and abuse, healthcare regulatory compliance, and hospital governance and operations, including editing/drafting/negotiating contracts with some experience with hospital and physician contracting and a fundamental understanding of health care regulations including government reimbursement programs and value based care initiatives.
• Previous law firm experience required.

Additional Requirements

• Ability to travel as needed; up to 25%