West Coast Reunion: Sharing Perspectives on Steering Health Systems Through Change and Opportunity
The Four Seasons Beverly Hills sits as an oasis of calm in the heart of Los Angeles, an ideal venue for this Fall’s gathering of Chief Legal Officers and General Counsel from a range of healthcare providers at the 2024 Healthcare Law & Compliance Institute. It was a reunion of old friends, as well as an opportunity to make new connections, amidst a collegial environment conducive to learning, information exchange, networking, and palm tree (and celebrity?) views.
With everyone’s physiological needs met via the outstanding amenities, quality service, exceptional meals, and beautiful setting, the attendees were primed and ready to engage with one another to share ideas, best practices, and lessons learned.
The Institute sessions covered a broad range of pertinent subject matter and substantive topics; the synopsis below provides some key highlights and visuals of a fantastic 48 hours.
GENERATIVE AI
Recent research from Bain & Company and KLAS Research highlights that 70% of health system respondents believe that AI has reached a turning point in its ability to reshape healthcare. AI is a regular C-suite conversation, and if you are a healthcare executive, no doubt your hospital board is asking you about AI. While many are touting the significant and ‘game-changing’ potential of AI, over the past year, hospital and health system leaders have been exploring where the technology could be most helpful and where it may cause harm.
The Institute featured a panel that discussed the current and potential impact of artificial intelligence on the health care industry, as well as how to evaluate and integrate such technologies within a regulatory landscape that continues to evolve with the technology, exploring the implications of data privacy laws, FDA considerations, governance, and interoperability, the importance of IP rights as related to the use and development of AI, emerging applications and use of chatbots, the use of AI in research, including clinical trials, and recent developments.
In one of the more controversial sessions, a technologist took on a room of attorneys to highlight how AI was emerging as a transformative force in healthcare, promising to improve patient experience and outcomes, enhance operational efficiency, and drive innovation. On the flip side, alongside these opportunities come significant challenges, such as ensuring responsible and ethical AI deployment, adoption compliance, safety and accuracy, bias, privacy, security, and risk management. Navigating this minefield over the coming years is sure to keep many GCs and CLOs busy!
REGULATORY CONSIDERATIONS
“The sharing by Dr. Schott was very humbling; and at the same time, it humanized the legal risks and the adverse impacts of regulatory penalties- both to organizations and to a person as a whole. That was the best session among all.”
We were so fortunate to have been able to host Dr. Nate Schott, former owner of a multi-location dental practice, who provided a first-person perspective in navigating healthcare fraud enforcement issues and his experience in pleading guilty to federal healthcare fraud-related charges. The session, which offered an authentic look at key decision points and lessons learned for healthcare providers facing a government investigation, was eye-opening and resonated strongly for many.
In a heavily regulated industry like healthcare, hospital and health system legal leaders need to be at the forefront of regulatory changes and updates, which is why the sessions that provided an overview and outlined implications of the new U.S. DOJ Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program, the heightened FTC and DOJ antitrust scrutiny at both the Federal and State levels, and the increasing frequency of DEA inspections for Controlled Substances Act (CSA) compliance, were so valuable and well attended.
HEALTHCARE LEGAL LEADERSHIP
A General Counsel (GC) / Chief Legal Officer (CLO) is not merely the head of the legal function, but also a top business leader with a broad and varied array of responsibilities. The successful GC / CLO is one who couples that legal expertise with a deep understanding of the organization’s needs, serving as a trusted adviser to both internal and external stakeholders. Today’s rapidly evolving healthcare landscape requires hospital and health system law department leaders to be nimble, creative, and efficient. Structuring and re-structuring your legal department to satisfy the changing legal needs of your clients while making sure you have a highly functioning legal team that provides superior advice and counsel is essential.
Two perennially popular sessions on the Role of the Healthcare General Counsel / Chief Legal Officer and Optimizing Legal Department Operations offered opportunities to share insights, ideas, what worked, what didn’t, and to crowdsource solutions. In addition, two interactive discussions on the unique challenges faced by legal department leaders in helping the next generation of in-house legal leaders develop the skills they need to take their contributions (and careers) to the next level, and a scenario-based discussion of the role of a Healthcare General Counsel as a leader in a developing crisis, and how to navigate said crisis both allowed attendees to gain new perspectives and advance their development.
THANK YOU!
Over the course of the two-and-a-half-day event, the networking and connection was incredible. The quality of the speaker faculty and the high levels of discussion amongst the attendees created fertile ground for learning and information exchange. Lastly, fantastic networking, delicious meals, and impeccable service under the California sun made for an incredibly valuable and memorable experience and attendees left the Institute feeling refreshed and renewed.
We would like to thank our Speaker Faculty and Service Providers for their expertise and engagement, the Attendees for their participation and willingness to share, and our IPMI on-site team for their efforts and kindness.
“Very thoughtful, attentive and focused execution. You guys were on top of everything (including, I am sure, many things no one knew about!) and executed with grace and kindness.”
“The event was perfect - from the amenities to the number of delegates to the content of the sessions and the pacing of everything. There is nothing that I would have changed.”
“Very well run event. Perfect size. Larger conferences are hard to navigate and less productive. The business meetings were great.”
“I love that it's small and intimate, which provides an opportunity to make real connections.”
“This was my first time attending this event and I found it to be fantastic! The content was wonderful and it was such a great experience to meet and network with other compliance and legal professional who are tackling similar issues. This is the best conference experience I have had so far in my professional career. Thank you so much for including me.”
“The event was perfect! It's been a few years since I attended, and it really seems like you have gotten everything down to a perfect science! It was really great!”
ON TO THE NEXT ONE
To contribute to the next iteration of the Healthcare Law & Compliance Institute, whether sharing some insights and experiences as a member of the Speaker Faculty, suggesting topic areas for the agenda or joining the waiting list for attendance, please contact Nas Panwar at npanwar@ipmievents.com
“The support staff was incredible! Highly organized, they never missed a beat! Well done everyone!”
“Loved this event, exceeded my expectations!”
“The staff at IPMI do a fabulous job organizing these conferences. You make it look simple. The content of the conference was filled with strategic information with a nice blend of actionable takeaways. Establishing connections in other organizations and industries is invaluable.”
“IPMI staff were outstanding and had thought of everything!”
“It was wonderful. Very well-run event and we were treated like gold. Felt very valued throughout the process and enjoyed the caliber of the speakers and their content.”
