SPEAKER INDEX

 Monday, October 7, 2024

 Tuesday, October 8, 2024

 Wednesday, October 9, 2024
 
 
 

 

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES 

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Duke Law School, Senior Distinguished Fellow

 Dan Bowling, JD 

Dan Bowling is a teacher, researcher, and published writer on topics related to labor law and personal well-being. He is the recipient of Duke's Outstanding Professor of the year in 2015. He recently has accepted an appointment at Georgia State College of Law. He is also an instructor in Univ. of Pennsylvania's Masters on Positive Psychology program, where he assists leading researcher Martin Seligman. Prior to his academic career he was a partner in a major law firm and head of HR worldwide for Coca-Cola Enterprises.  [TOP]

Saul Ewing LLP, Partner

Thomas Conley, JD concentrates his practice in transactional health care law and regulatory compliance matters. Thomas is the current President of the Illinois Association of Healthcare Attorneys. He has chaired the Illinois State Bar Association's Health Care Section Council and the Chicago Bar Association's Health Care and Hospital Law Committee. He remains active in ISBA activities, currently serving on the ISBA's Legislation Committee and its Health Care Section Council. A former appointee to the Illinois Secretary of State's Business Acts Advisory Committee, he is a founding member of the successor Institute of Illinois Business Law. In addition, Thomas served as executive director and outside general counsel for the Illinois Educational Facilities Authority, a state agency which during his tenure issued more than $4 billion in revenue bonds to finance the construction and renovation of facilities for private, not for profit educational and cultural institutions throughout the State of Illinois. He also served as Health Care Ombudsman under appointment by the U.S. Trustee for the Northern District of Illinois.  [TOP]

California Medical Association, Legal Counsel

 Ms. Shari Covington, JD is a healthcare attorney for the California Medical Association’s (CMA’s) Center for Legal Affairs. She is a graduate of the University at Albany State University of New York with a Bachelor of Arts in English and received her J.D. from Franklin Pierce Law Center in New Hampshire.

Ms. Covington’s work at CMA has spanned protecting California physicians in courts through Amicus briefs, editing and authoring chapters in the California Physician’s Legal Handbook (CPLH), listening to and advising on Medical Staff concerns, and much more. She is also a Sacramento County Bar Association Board member where she serves her fellow attorneys in the greater Sacramento area.  [TOP]
 

American Medical Association, Director, Division of Legislative Counsel

 George Cox, JD is the American Medical Association’s (AMA) Director, Division of Legislative Counsel, providing high-value legislative and regulatory analysis and counsel to AMA Advocacy staff, Board members, Council on Legislation, and specialty and state medical societies. He has a broad substantive knowledge of major health care laws and is recognized in particular for his expertise in and contribution to medical liability reform and patient safety issues. George serves on the Board of the American Tort Reform Association and represents the AMA on the Executive Committee of the Health Coalition on Liability and Access (HCLA). Prior to joining the AMA, George worked on Capitol Hill serving as counsel to two Members of Congress. George received his Bachelor of Science degree in economics from Ithaca College and law degree from the University of Miami School of Law.  [TOP]
 

TM Capital, Principal

John A. Dean, MBA is a Principal of TM Capital Corp. and is responsible for transaction execution across the firm’s healthcare practice, including all aspects of the deal process.  John has over twelve years of finance and transaction-related experience. Prior to joining TM, John was an Associate at Roark Capital Group, an Atlanta-based private equity firm with more than $33 billion of equity capital under management.  While at Roark, John served on the post-acquisition management teams of a number of Roark’s portfolio companies and evaluated new opportunities primarily in multi-unit consumer and specialty retail, business services, industrial and environmental services companies.  Prior to Roark, John was an Analyst at Duff & Phelps where he provided valuation advisory services to a range of public and private companies. John is a graduate of Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business and holds a Bachelor of Science in Management. Outside of work, John resides in Marietta with his wife and three young daughters.  He is a licensed pilot and enjoys travel, sailing, cooking, exploring new restaurants, and leading an active lifestyle.  John is originally from Ocean Springs, Mississippi.  [TOP]
 

American Medical Association, Senior Attorney

 Ashley Delosh, JD is an attorney for the American Medical Association’s Division of Legislative Counsel, where she provides legislative and regulatory analysis and counsel on a broad array of healthcare issues, including matters of digital health and augmented intelligence, telemedicine, and recently the emerging interest in the use of digital tools to support solutions aimed at cost and price transparency. Ashley earned her B.A. from Penn State University in international politics and a J.D. with a concentration in Health Law & Science, from the Duquesne University School of Law.  [TOP]

Polsinelli LLP, Shareholder

 Based in Chicago, IL, Kara Friedman, JD, is a shareholder at Polsinelli PC, an Am Law 100 law firm with more than 1000 lawyers in 23 office locations across the U.S.  At Polsinelli, Kara has membership in the health care and corporate departments and is a team leader in various types of alignment transactions and health care development projects. At the inception of her practice, Kara focused on the representation of physicians and freestanding clinics.  With so much market consolidation over the years, she has since broadened her practice to represent health systems, practice management portfolio companies and physicians entering into transactions with those enterprises.  With her own background working in clinic operations and at an HMO, Kara has always had a keen focus on health care delivery systems, value-based care and alignment transactions.  Kara returned from a summer sabbatical on September 1 and is re-energized to help her clients focus on sorting through their opportunities and challenges as health care rapidly evolves.  [TOP]

McDonald Hopkins LLC, Counsel 

 Rick Hindmand, JD is an attorney with McDonald Hopkins LLC in its Chicago office, where he focuses his practice on health care regulatory, compliance, reimbursement, data privacy, corporate and transactional matters. Rick serves on the Board of Directors of Partnership for a Connected Illinois, the Board of Directors of the Illinois Association of Healthcare Attorneys (IAHA), and the Illinois State Bar Association Privacy & Information Security Section Council. For additional information, visit his profile on the firm website -  https://www.mcdonaldhopkins.com/Team/Attorney/r/Rick-Hindmand .   [TOP]

Nason Yeager Gerson Harris & Fumero, PA, Shareholder

 

 Richard H. Levenstein, JD is a shareholder at Nason Yeager. He practices in the area of complex commercial, civil litigation, physician and medical staff representation. Mr. Levenstein represents clients with business disputes, including actions arising from contracts or torts; his practice also has a heavy concentration in representing individual physicians, professional medical practices and the physician leadership of organized medical staffs around the State. He has successfully challenged the policies of major hospitals and has won several substantial victories that have shaped the law to protect physicians and medical staffs. Mr. Levenstein is a Board Certified Business Litigation Lawyer and a Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Civil Mediator. He represents clients in state and federal court, and in administrative proceedings. Originally from the Bronx, New York, Mr. Levenstein earned his bachelor’s degree in 1973 from Tulane University in New Orleans and earned his Juris Doctor in 1976 from Tulane University Law School. He has practiced in the State of Florida since 1977 and has experience both as a sole practitioner and as a partner in several major firms. He practiced in Boca Raton for 18 years, before relocating to Martin County. In addition to his legal work, Mr. Levenstein is the founding President of the Justice Major B. Harding American Inn of Court and former President of the Martin County Bar Association. He has served on several Florida Bar Committees and serves on the Board of many national organizations including the American Inns of Court Foundation, The Lawyers Committee of the National Center for State Courts and the American Judicature Society. He is deeply committed to educating the public about the importance of a fair and impartial judiciary, and trains lawyers and judges around the Country how to do so, through the Our Courts America initiative. Mr. Levenstein is also a Supreme Court Certified Circuit Civil Mediator, serves as Adjunct Professor of Healthcare Law at Tulane University Law School and a lecturer at Tulane University Medical School.  [TOP]

Indiana State Medical Association, Director of Policy and Government Affairs

 Luke McNamee, JD is the Director of Policy and Government Affairs for the Indiana State Medical Association -- Indiana’s largest physician professional association -- representing medical students, residents, and physicians across all specialties. He has been a registered lobbyist for the last 5 years representing education and physician issues. Luke earned his Doctor of Jurisprudence from the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis where he served as the Executive Articles Editor of the Indiana Health Law Review.  [TOP]

 

American Medical Association, Senior Counsel

 Lisa Myers, JD, CIPP/US is Senior Washington Counsel in the American Medical Association’s (AMA) Division of Legislative Counsel. She provides legal advice and regulatory analysis on data privacy, with an emphasis on HIPAA, GDPR, and consumer privacy protections. Focused on patient privacy in healthcare generally, and the areas of Substance Use Disorder (SUD) and mental health, Lisa advises on federal advocacy to implement the AMA’s policy objectives. Prior to joining the AMA, Lisa worked with the Office for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, contributing to several recently published Notices of Proposed Rulemakings (NPRMs) including those proposing to modify HIPAA to increase care coordination, and to modify federal regulations governing confidentiality of SUD patient records, aligning parts of these regulations with those of HIPAA. Lisa previously served as Assistant General Counsel (AGC) of the American Nurses Association, and AGC and Corporate Secretary of all subsidiaries for the largest health insurance provider in the Mid-Atlantic region. She is CIPP/US certified and when in private practice, led implementation initiatives for privacy mandates under HIPAA, GDPR, and state privacy laws for clients including the largest healthcare company globally by revenue, a global medical device manufacturer, and financial services companies.  Lisa received her undergraduate English degree from the University of Virginia and law degree from Tulane University in New Orleans, LA. Previously a frequent competitor on the Virginia Point-to-Point (cross-country horseracing) circuit, Lisa now lives just outside Washington, DC with her family and enjoys horseback riding, fishing, and Scrabble. [TOP]

Physician Growth Partners, Vice President

 Jeremy Murphy joined PGP in 2018 and has spent his entire professional career working on transactions in the provider services space across a multitude of different specialties. He focuses on all aspects of the transaction process, including transaction strategy and positioning, financial analysis, due diligence, and ultimately deal execution. In addition to his depth of experience in transaction advisory, Jeremy has spent time consulting some of PGP’s clients that are not yet prepared to transact with private equity. Operational consulting experience has included day to day oversight of practice operations, key performance indicator development and tracking, new service line implementation, and recruitment at both the provider and management level.

Jeremy leverages his mix of experience in advisory and operational consulting roles to support clients comprehensively through their transaction process, or in helping their business get to the scale they desire before pursuing a transaction.  [TOP]

American Medical Association, Senior Assistant General Counsel

 Leonard Nelson, JD is an attorney in the American Medical Association Office of General Counsel.  His duties include service as the Director of the Litigation Center of the American Medical Association and the State Medical Societies. Mr. Nelson has spoken to and written for many legal organizations and medical societies about health law issues and his work at the Litigation Center.  He has also taught in three law schools and had several scholarly articles published on legal subjects.  He is a former chairman of the Health Care Section Council of the Illinois State Bar Association and is a former President of the American Society of Medical Association Counsel. Mr. Nelson graduated from Dartmouth College, and he received a master's degree in physics from the University of Illinois.  He received his law degree from Harvard Law School.  [TOP]

Neubert Pepe Monteith, PC, Partner 

  Gregory J. Pepe, JD heads the Healthcare Law, Alternative Dispute Resolution & Mediation and Corporate & Business Transactions practice areas. His experience in the healthcare market, its accompanying regulatory constructs and related business matters, spans decades. Greg provides his clients the understanding necessary to navigate the changing healthcare landscape. Healthcare issues that Greg often addresses include how providers can successfully negotiate new market ventures and grow their business strategically while operating within policies and legal regulations. Greg has extensive experience in addressing the myriad of business issues facing healthcare providers. He skillfully provides counsel and solutions for his entrepreneurial clients. The business issues that hospitals, doctors, lab companies, and other healthcare providers face are extremely complex. Greg works with clients to establish business relationships such as partnership agreements, corporation agreements, noncompetition agreements, compensation arrangements, and provider contracts. The agreements and contracts are crafted to provide the legal structure for the entity to operate effectively. To that end they are constructed with the objective of avoiding future disputes. There are numerous types of disputes that might arise within the healthcare industry; between providers and payors, doctors and hospitals, senior and junior doctors, and partnerships. Within the arena of dispute resolution and mediation Greg assumes the patient/provider perspective and works as an advocate for the patient or provider. Greg has been an advisor to a number of state medical societies, including the Connecticut State Medical Society. He provides counsel for physician practice management issues within the context of organized medicine and initiation of litigation by medical societies against managed care companies. He represents numerous physician groups, including large integrated practices, IPAs, PHOs, and others involved in healthcare law issues. Mr. Pepe is the President of the American Society of Medical Association Counsel.  [TOP]

 

American College of Cardiology, Senior Advisor, State Government Affairs

 Frank Ryan, JD is a career government relations professional, health care advocate, and lawyer who has represented provider non-profit organizations for over 25 years. For the past 18 years Frank has held several positions in the Advocacy Division of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) including PAC/grassroots director, congressional lobbyist and currently as senior advisor, state government affairs where he partners with state chapters and various councils and committees to advance the College’s advocacy agenda in state capitals. Frank also serves as state policy contact with external cardiovascular organizations including the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions (SCAI), the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS), and the American Society for Echocardiography (ASE). His priority issues include physician wellness, state licensure, CME, medical malpractice reform, restrictive covenants/non-compete agreements, telehealth, cardiac emergency services, Certificate of Need (CON), sports medicine, children’s health, and tobacco cessation. Prior to joining ACC, Frank worked as manager/pollical education for the American Dental Association Political Action Committee (ADPAC), an attorney/lobbyist for O’Malley, Miles, Nylen & Gilmore, P.A., and as a state and federal lobbyist for the Service Station Dealers of America & Allied Trades (SSDA-AT). Frank earned a B.S. in American Studies from The Catholic University of America and a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center. He is a U.S. Navy veteran and served on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. John F. Kennedy, CV-67in the aviation supply division. He lives in Gaithersburg, Maryland with his wife, two children, and their dog Harper Zimmerman. Frank coached youth basketball for 12 years and is an enthusiastic fan of all D.C. teams. He hopes to one day be a rock & roll historian. [TOP]

 

Duggan Bertsch, LLC, Partner

 

 With more than two decades of experience in both private practice and as a senior leader in various in-house roles, Tracey Salinski, JD, LLM is a trusted advisor and counselor to healthcare organizations, offering strategic counsel on a broad range of healthcare regulatory, corporate and compliance matters. Tracey has deep experience in structuring, negotiating and closing a broad range of transactions in the highly regulated and complex health care industry and takes a collaborative approach with clients to create and implement strategies and solutions which promote growth while avoiding or minimizing exposure to legal liability.  Tracey also regularly provides advice in connection with provider operations, transactions and governance matters. Tracey’s in-house experience and understanding of a client’s business needs inform her perspective on the significant opportunities and challenges which clients face in the ever-changing and complex healthcare regulatory environment. Prior to joining the firm, Tracey was Counsel at an Am Law 100 law firm and, prior to that, served as in-house General Counsel and SVP of Legal for Illinois’ largest multi-specialty physician-directed medical group. Tracey’s extensive experience allows her to partner with clients to drive strategic initiatives by providing advice on an array of matters including:
  • Health care alignment transactions
  • Health care fraud and abuse
  • Physician self-referral restrictions
  • Contracting matters

Salinski holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), a J.D. from the Michigan State University College of Law, and an LL.M. in Taxation, magna cum laude, from the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law.  [TOP]

Legal Counsel for the Medical Staff, PLLC, President

 

 		 Elizabeth A. ("Libby") Snelson, JD represents medical staffs across the country, focusing on medical staff bylaws, and works for medical societies on medical staff issues.    She handles issues such as "disruptive practitioner" procedures, emergency call coverage and hospital conflict management, to name only a few. A frequent speaker on medical staff legal issues, Libby presents at medical staff leadership retreats, and in programs sponsored by state medical staff services associations and medical societies, the American Medical Association, the American Bar Association, and other organizations.  Libby is Past President of the American Society of Medical Association Counsel, Vice President of the ABA’s Physician Issues Interest Group, and serves Of Counsel to the Minneapolis law firm of Lockridge Grindal Nauen.  She was a member of the Joint Commission’s MS 01.01.01 Task Force.   Her articles on medical staff legal issues have appeared in various publications.  She is the author of The Physicians’ Guide to Medical Staff Organization Bylaws, published by AMA, the Massachusetts Medical Society’s Model Medical Staff Bylaws, the North Carolina Medical Society’s Model Medical Staff Bylaws, and other model medical staff documents.  [TOP]

 

American Medical Association, Vice President, Advocacy Resource Center

 Kai Sternstein, JD is the Vice President of the AMA’s Advocacy Resource Center (ARC), the state legislative arm of the AMA. In that capacity, Kai oversees ARC staff attorneys’ development and execution of strategies for achieving AMA goals through state legislation and regulation. To achieve its goals, the ARC not only develops strategic collaborations aimed at influencing external policy-making organizations (e.g. National Association of Insurance Commissioners, National Conference of State Legislatures, National Governors Association), but also tailors solutions to the political, economic and health care environments of the individual states - in close consultation and partnership with state and national medical specialty societies. The ARC’s work is focused on issues such as state health system reform implementation, reforming Medicaid, private payer reform, medical liability reform, scope of practice, protecting the patient-physician relationship, public health improvement and other critical physician business and ownership issues. Under Kai’s leadership, the ARC has created and implemented turn-key state advocacy tools and initiatives such as the AMA Economic Impact Study and the AMA Geomapping Initiative, as well as the AMA’s Scope of Practice Partnership. Kai is responsible for the ARC’s focus on aggressive advocacy and lobbying of national state policy making organizations such as the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, as well as positioning the AMA as a proactive, impactful force at the state level. Kai received her JD from IIT-Chicago Kent College of Law and her BS in biology from Southern Methodist University. Prior to coming to the AMA, Kai practiced law for close to six years as a litigator, including over half of that time at one of Chicago’s oldest medical malpractice defense firms, Pretzel & Stouffer, Charted.  [TOP]

American Association of University Professors Biomedical and Health Sciences of New Jersey, Executive Director

 Diomedes Tsitouras, JD, MPA is Executive Director of the American Association of University Professors - Biomedical and Health Sciences of New Jersey, a labor union of 1500 faculty at Rutgers and Rowan Universities who teach the next generation of doctors, nurses, scientists, and health professionals. Before that, he was Executive Director of American Association of University Professors -University of Connecticut Health Center chapter. His work on behalf of both unions brought more multi-year appointments, higher minimum pay standards, better access to childcare/parental leave, and less gender-based inequity. As a lawyer, Mr. Tsitouras he has advocated for individuals from different backgrounds including nurses, immigrants, crime victims, and law enforcement to name a few examples. In January 2020, Mr. Tsitouras was appointed by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy as a Commissioner to the New Jersey Civil Service Commission. In this capacity, he renders fair and impartial decisions on appeals made to the Commission. Mr. Tsitouras holds degrees in labor relations and public administration from Cornell University, as we as juris doctor degree from Indiana University
 [TOP]

Texas Medical Association, General Counsel

Kelly Walla, JD is General Counsel for the Texas Medical Association (TMA).  Ms. Walla has more than 15 years of experience serving as in-house counsel for the TMA and working on a variety of legislative and regulatory matters related to the practice of medicine, insurance and managed care, and health policy.  Ms. Walla received her J.D., with honors, from the University of Texas School of Law in 2000 and her LL.M. in Health Law from the University of Houston Law Center in 2008.

Ms. Walla serves on the council for the Health Law Section of the State Bar of Texas and on the board of the Texas Alliance for Patient Access, and she is immediate past president of the American Society of Medical Association Counsel. She also chairs the policy subcommittee for TMA’s staff diversity and inclusion committee. Prior to joining TMA, she was in private practice, focusing on civil litigation defense with experience in insurance, general business, and health law matters.  [TOP]

Bradley, LLP, Partner

 Sidney Welch, JD, MPH is a nationally recognized strategic advisor to large specialty physician practices and associations, as well as technology companies, for their cutting-edge and traditional healthcare, transactional, and litigation needs. Sidney serves as strategic regulatory counsel, providing counsel to clients regarding tomorrow’s healthcare, including digital health ventures; telehealth; precision medicine; artificial intelligence and machine learning; data aggregation and analytics; health information privacy and security; and advanced payment and delivery models. She also works with clients to achieve their business objectives against the constantly developing regulatory environment, including the federal Anti-Kickback Statute; Stark Law; the False Claims Act; HIPAA, HITECH, and omnibus privacy and security regulations; and state self-referral laws, fee-splitting, and corporate practice of medicine. On the transactional front, Sidney provides legal counsel in the merger and acquisition of physician practices and healthcare technology companies, as well as private equity offerings, and joint venture opportunities. She also provides representation in quasi-litigation and litigation matters, including False Claims Act mediation and litigation; Medicare & Medicaid reimbursement issues, investigations, audits, and appeals; state medical licensure investigations and hearing; medical staff bylaws, credentialing, and hearings. Sidney is a frequent speaker and author in novel areas of healthcare and technology, has served in leadership roles for the American Bar Association’s Health Law Section and American Health Lawyers Association, and co-chaired healthcare innovation efforts for two national law firms. She holds joint degrees in law and public health and serves as an adjunct professor at the Georgia State University College of Law.  [TOP]

Whatley Kallas, LLP, Of Counsel

 Ms. Deborah Winegard, JD focuses her practice on healthcare litigation, primarily representing physicians, hospitals, physical therapy practices, ambulatory surgery centers, and other healthcare providers in reimbursement disputes with third party payers and in antitrust and ERISA litigation against health insurers. Ms. Winegard also represents medical societies and organizations advocating for physician interests with payers and government and patients seeking coverage for wilderness therapy and other mental health treatments under the Parity Act. Ms. Winegard speaks widely on healthcare and reimbursement issues. She has given presentations for the American Medical Association, the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association, the American Society of Medical Association Counsel, the Medical Group Managers Association, and several state and specialty medical associations. Ms. Winegard has published articles in several publications, including Connecticut Medicine, published by the Connecticut State Medical Society, and Texas Medicine, published by the Texas Medical Association. A webinar on RAC and other medical audits Ms. Winegard conducted for the Physicians Advocacy Institute is available on that organization’s website. Ms. Winegard’s prior experience includes serving as the General Counsel and Director of Third-Party Payer Advocacy for the Medical Association of Georgia, as General Counsel and Senior Vice President for the California Medical Association, as Law & Government Affairs Vice President for four states for AT&T, and as an Associate on King & Spalding’s Healthcare Team. Ms. Winegard graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in Politics from Wake Forest University in 1979, where she was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa honor society. She earned her J.D. with honors from George Washington University in 1982. She is admitted to practice in Georgia, as well as in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia and the United States District Court for the District of Colorado.  [TOP]