Senior Vice President – Legal Services & Compliance

Woman's Hospital•St. George, LA

About The Position

The Senior Vice President – Legal Services & Compliance serves as the Hospital's chief legal and compliance counselor and a member of the executive leadership team. This position provides strategic legal advice to the Board of Directors, President/Chief Executive Officer, and executive leadership team while overseeing the organization's legal, compliance, governance, privacy, and risk management functions. The SVP serves as a trusted advisor, ensuring compliance with applicable laws and regulations while balancing legal risk with the Hospital's mission, values, strategic objectives, and operational priorities.

Requirements

Juris Doctor (JD) degree from an accredited law school.
Active license to practice law in the State of Louisiana.
Requires a minimum of ten years of progressively responsible legal experience, with significant experience in healthcare law, including without limitation, strong knowledge and experience with hospital compliance programs.
Demonstrated experience advising executive leadership and governing boards on complex legal, compliance, and regulatory matters.
Experience with healthcare transactions, contract negotiations, governance, employment law, and risk management.
Requires extensive knowledge of healthcare laws and regulations affecting hospitals and health systems.
Strong hospital compliance program knowledge and strong understanding of nonprofit governance and Board relations.
Excellent judgment with the ability to balance legal risk with operational and strategic objectives.
Proven ability to manage complex matters, multiple priorities, and sensitive information.

Nice To Haves

Prior experience in a healthcare organization, health system, academic medical center, or healthcare-focused law firm strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

Serve as the primary legal advisor to executive leadership and the Board of Directors, attending Board and committee meetings as warranted.
Provide counsel on federal and state healthcare laws and regulations, including but not limited to Stark Law, Anti-Kickback Statute, HIPAA, EMTALA, Medicare/Medicaid conditions of participation, and nonprofit governance requirements.
Monitor changes in healthcare law and proactively advise leadership on potential operational and strategic impacts.
Oversee organizational compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and accreditation standards in collaboration with Compliance Officer, Risk Management, and Quality teams.
Provide strategy and direction to the hospital’s Compliance Officer for implementation of the hospital’s compliance program.
Collaborate with stakeholders and Compliance Officer on legal review of policies and procedures for the operation of the compliance program and its related activities to prevent illegal, unethical and improper conduct.
Serves as legal counsel during compliance investigations and audits to ensure regulatory compliance.
Collaborate with Compliance Officer in identifying potential areas of compliance vulnerability and risk, provide guidance on action plans for resolution of problematic issues, and provide guidance on how to handle similar situations in the future.
Draft, review, negotiate, and manage a wide range of contracts, including without limitation, physician agreements, vendor contracts, affiliation agreements, merger and acquisition documents, and research-related contracts.
Lead and manage due diligence projects, litigation, claims, investigations, and responses to regulatory inquiries, working closely with outside counsel as appropriate.
Consult on employment and labor law matters, including employee relations issues, policies, executive compensation, and physician employment matters.
Support Risk Management efforts by identifying legal risks and developing mitigation strategies.
Ensure effective corporate governance practices, including Board bylaws, policies, resolutions, and regulatory filings.
Provide guidance to HIPAA Compliance Specialist and leadership on privacy, data security, and information governance matters.
Consult with CEO and executive leadership on state and federal legislation.
Collaborate with hospital’s governmental relations team on hospital’s legislative strategies, including without limitation, drafting legislation and testifying before House and Senate Committees on legal implications of hospital’s legislative initiatives.
Draft comments to proposed state and federal legislation and actions.
Counsel hospital executives and other internal stakeholders on interpretation and impact of legislation and regulations.