Health Care Attorney

Job Posting Title:

Health Care Attorney

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Hiring Department:

Office of the Vice President for Legal Affairs

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Position Open To:

All Applicants

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Weekly Scheduled Hours:

40

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FLSA Status:

Exempt from FLSA

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Earliest Start Date:

Immediately

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Position Duration:

Expected to Continue

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Location:

AUSTIN, TX

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Job Details:

General Notes

This is a unique opportunity to be a part of making The University of Texas at Austin’s medical center, UT Dell Medical Center, set to open in 2030, a reality. This position will support our world-class academic medical center for education, research, and patient care, and our medical school. The mission of The University of Texas at Austin’s Dell Medical School is to revolutionize how people get and stay healthy. This position is within the Office of the Vice President for Legal Affairs (VPLA) and will support our mission by delivering strategic legal services with a focus on healthcare law. This role will support the current operations of Dell Medical School (DMS) and its clinical practice, UT Dell Medicine, as well as pre-planning for the new hospital at UT Dell Medical Center.

Read this news release about our plans for the UT Dell Medical Center in Austin: https://news.utexas.edu/2023/08/14/university-of-texas-system-regents-announce-plans-to-build-ut-medical-center-on-site-of-erwin-center/

The Associate Vice President will be a key legal advisor to leadership of Dell Medical School and UT Dell Medicine as we launch a monumental healthcare initiative and new specialty hospital. This role will also provide cross-functional alignment with VPLA in its delivery of legal services. The Associate Vice President will provide counsel, assistance, analysis, and guidance on healthcare law matters with particular emphasis on , complex healthcare transactions, business negotiations, contract management, and business operations supporting the core mission and business activities of DMS and UT Dell Medicine. This role also provides legal support for various undergraduate and graduate medical education issues related to policies and program agreements. This position reports to the Senior Associate Vice President for Legal Affairs and offices at both DMS and the main campus of The University of Texas at Austin. As an onsite VPLA attorney at DMS and UT Dell Medicine, the Associate Vice President will engage with DMS leadership, faculty, and staff as needed to assist in delivery of timely and effective legal services to a large academic healthcare institution through a responsive, thoughtful, and proactive approach.

Your skills will make a difference. 

You’ll be working for a university that is internationally recognized for our academic programs and research. Your work will contribute to operational excellence and enhance the student experience. If you’re the type of person that wants to know your work has meaning and impact, you’ll like working in our department and for UT Austin. UT Austin provides an outstanding benefits package including but not limited to: 

• Competitive health benefits (employee premiums covered at 100%, family premiums at 50%) 
• Voluntary Vision, Dental, Life, and Disability insurance options 
• Generous paid vacation, sick time, and holidays 
• Teachers Retirement System of Texas, a defined benefit retirement plan, with employer matching funds 
• Additional Voluntary Retirement Programs: Tax Sheltered Annuity 403(b) and a Deferred Compensation program 457(b) 
• Flexible spending account options for medical and childcare expenses 
• Robust free training access through LinkedIn Learning plus professional conference opportunities 
• Tuition assistance 
• Expansive employee discount program including athletic tickets 
• Free access to UT Austin's libraries and museums with staff ID card 
• Free rides on all UT Shuttle and Austin CapMetro buses with staff ID card 

For more details, please see: https://hr.utexas.edu/prospective/benefits and https://hr.utexas.edu/current/services/my-total-rewards . 

Purpose

This position is part of the healthcare law practice group within the University’s Office of the Vice President for Legal Affairs (VPLA) providings dedicated legal support and expertise in healthcare law to DMS and UT Dell Medicine, organizational leadership, administrative, clinical, and academic teams. This position’s work will be predominantly in the areas of business operations and transactions and medical education.

Responsibilities

• Serves as a resource for DMS and UT Dell Medicine by providing legal context, expertise, and analysis, as appropriate, to a wide variety of discussions including those related to business development, operations, management, regulatory issues, delivery of care and other support functions. Responds to requests of DMS leadership, faculty, and staff related to matters within scope of work.
• Advises on the development and interpretation of policies and procedures to ensure compliance with UT Austin and UT System rules and policies. Coordinates with and supports DMS and UT Dell Medicine compliance and business contract functions.
• Advises and performs work on a wide variety of transactions with a specialty focus on healthcare initiatives, complex commercial health care transactions, and mutually beneficial affiliations with sister institutions and external partners. Ensures that contractual language complies with applicable state and federal laws, UT System Board of Regents’ Rules, UT System policies, and University requirements. Works with other administrative offices within UT Austin and UT System, as appropriate, to execute such activities.
• Negotiates, drafts, and reviews various documents including affiliation and program agreements, partnering arrangements, service agreements, information technology and data agreements, confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements, payor and managed care agreements, physician and faculty practice arrangements, gift agreements, and conflicts of interest management plans. Ensures that document language complies with applicable state and federal laws, UT System Board of Regents’ Rules, and University standards.

• Provides counsel and guidance in the recommendation and establishment of appropriate legal entities (for-profit and not-for-profit). Actively assists, advises, and supports negotiations for major business and clinical transactions in which DMS and UT Dell Medicine engage.
• Facilitates cross-functional alignment with VPLA through regular meetings to help coordinate and provide first-in-class legal support for DMS and UT Dell Medicine in all areas. Assists in managing outside counsel relationships in support of healthcare and development activities, identifies areas for additional legal support from the central VPLA team, and collaborates with VPLA leadership to manage delivery of legal services. Establishes appropriate contacts with other VPLA attorneys and UT System attorneys while contributing to strong positive rapport between these groups.
• Coordinates closely with UT Austin and UT System for the most effective use of resources and to ensure that all activities are conducted in accordance with applicable state and federal laws, UT System Board of Regents’ Rules, and University standards. Follows current legal developments and trends in medical education, healthcare reform, and healthcare business transactions, and advises leadership accordingly. Assumes responsibility for maintaining professional licensure and fulfilling professional continuing education requirements.
• As requested, provides institutional support and serves on committees, teams, and task forces to further more efficient and effective transactions, structures, and strategies. Promotes an atmosphere of innovation in all areas and assists in the protection and management of intellectual property creation.
• Assists with development and coaching of technical competencies of other VPLA attorneys assigned to support DMS and UT Dell Medicine.
• Performs other duties, as necessary or assigned, by DMS or VPLA to support DMS, UT Dell Medicine, and other university components.

Required Qualifications

• Required Education: Juris Doctorate
• Required Licensure: Admission to the Texas Bar or another state with acquisition of Texas license within one year of employment.  
• Required Experience:
  • Minimum seven years practicing law with significant experience as in-house or external counsel for an academic medical center, a health science center, or a health center.
  • Strong transactional experience with affiliation, program, partnering, service, payor and managed care, physician and faculty practice agreements.
  • Experience with both traditional and innovative health care delivery entities such as ASCs, ACOs, joint ventures, mergers, acquisitions, at risk insurance products, and direct to employer health care contracting.
  • Business development experience with the ability to blend legal skills and the experience to enhance development activities.
  • Proven track record in successfully working within complex and multi-tiered academic systems and/or private healthcare enterprises.
  • Excellent management, organizational, communication, interpersonal, research, writing, and negotiation skills applicable to a fast-paced, customer-service-oriented, intellectually challenging environment. Proven track record working as a successful team member and as an effective colleague.

Preferred Qualifications

• Preferred Education: Required education plus an undergraduate scientific degree.
• Preferred Experience: Required experience plus:
  • Experience as part of the leadership team for an academic medical center, a health science center, or a health system; and
  • Experience with hospital start-up activities, major healthcare affiliations, or joint ventures .
  • Experience with healthcare regulatory matters, including federal and state fraud and abuse laws (Stark and Anti-Kickback), Medicare and Medicaid participation, hospital accreditation, CMS conditions of participation, and EMTALA.
  • Experience with privacy and information security matters, including HIPAA, the Texas Medical Records Privacy Act, and breach response.
  • Experience with clinical trial and intellectual property agreements.
  • Experience managing outside counsel.
  • Prior supervisory experience.

Salary Range

Commensurate with experience; minimum annual salary of $210,000.

Working Conditions

• Work Hours maintained during the regular work week, Monday through Friday, 8am-5pm. Work demands may require 40+ hours during a given work week and work may be required on weekends.
• On-Call Commitment: Beginning in 2030, this position will participate in a team-based on-call rotation schedule to handle emergency legal or risk-management issues on evenings and weekends, as required by hospital operations.
• Work Location is onsite, as assigned, at DMS, UT Austin, and/or UT Dell Medical Center.
• FLSA exempt and not eligible for overtime pay

Required Materials

• Resume/CV
• 3 work references with their contact information; at least one reference should be from a supervisor
• Letter of interest

Important for applicants who are NOT current university employees or contingent workers: You will be prompted to submit your resume the first time you apply, then you will be provided an option to upload a new Resume for subsequent applications. Any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) will be uploaded in the Application Questions section; you will be able to multi-select additional files. Before submitting your online job application, ensure that ALL Required Materials have been uploaded.  Once your job application has been submitted, you cannot make changes.

Important for Current university employees and contingent workers: As a current university employee or contingent worker, you MUST apply within Workday by searching for Find UT Jobs. If you are a current University employee, log-in to Workday, navigate to your Worker Profile, click the Career link in the left hand navigation menu and then update the sections in your Professional Profile before you apply. This information will be pulled in to your application. The application is one page and you will be prompted to upload your resume. In addition, you must respond to the application questions presented to upload any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) that were noted above.

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Employment Eligibility:

Regular staff who have been employed in their current position for the last six continuous months are eligible for openings being recruited for through University-Wide or Open Recruiting, to include both promotional opportunities and lateral transfers. Staff who are promotion/transfer eligible may apply for positions without supervisor approval.

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Retirement Plan Eligibility:

The retirement plan for this position is Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), subject to the position being at least 20 hours per week and at least 135 days in length. This position has the option to elect the Optional Retirement Program (ORP) instead of TRS, subject to the position being 40 hours per week and at least 135 days in length.

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Background Checks:

A criminal history background check will be required for finalist(s) under consideration for this position.

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Equal Opportunity Employer:

The University of Texas at Austin, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. The University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions.

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Pay Transparency:

The University of Texas at Austin will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information.

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Employment Eligibility Verification:

If hired, you will be required to complete the federal Employment Eligibility Verification I-9 form.  You will be required to present acceptable and original documents to prove your identity and authorization to work in the United States.  Documents need to be presented no later than the third day of employment.  Failure to do so will result in loss of employment at the university.

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E-Verify:

The University of Texas at Austin use E-Verify to check the work authorization of all new hires effective May 2015. The university’s company ID number for purposes of E-Verify is 854197. For more information about E-Verify, please see the following:

• E-Verify Poster (English and Spanish) [PDF]
• Right to Work Poster (English) [PDF]
• Right to Work Poster (Spanish) [PDF]

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Compliance:

Employees may be required to report violations of law under Title IX and the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act). If this position is identified a Campus Security Authority (Clery Act), you will be notified and provided resources for reporting. Responsible employees under Title IX are defined and outlined in HOP-3031.

The Clery Act requires all prospective employees be notified of the availability of the Annual Security and Fire Safety report. You may access the most recent report here or obtain a copy at University Compliance Services, 1616 Guadalupe Street, UTA 2.206, Austin, Texas 78701.