Associate General Counsel

Overview

Interested in a career with both meaning and growth? Whether your abilities are in direct patient care or one of the many other areas of healthcare administration and support, everyone at Parkland works together to fulfill our mission: the health and well-being of individuals and communities entrusted to our care. By joining Parkland, you become part of a diverse healthcare legacy that’s served our community for more than 125 years.

Put your skills to work with us, seek opportunities to learn and join a talented team where patient care is more than a job. It’s our passion.

Serves as in house attorney primarily assigned to the Parkland Community Health Plan (PCHP), a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO), that is an affiliate of Parkland Health (Parkland) by providing strategic legal advice about various corporate issues, drafting contracts and documents, negotiating professional services agreements between PCHP and its business partners, assisting with regulatory compliance and all legal aspects of managed care operations.

Provides counsel on general business issues. May also provide legal advice and counsel to certain Parkland departments as assigned by the Chief Legal Officer.

Education

• Must be a graduate of an accredited law school.

Experience

• Must have a minimum of eight (8) years of law practice experience with a preference toward managed care, healthcare industry transactions, regulatory investigations, litigation, healthcare industry and/or governmental entity vendor/commercial contracts, health plan operations, provider/payor issues, HMO operations and/or risk management functions.

Equivalent Education and/or Experience

• May have an equivalent combination of education and experience to substitute for the experience requirements.

Certification/Registration/Licensure

• Must have a current Texas license to practice law in good standing; OR must pursue “Admission without Examination” based on reciprocity as outlined by the most recent standards established by the State Bar of Texas resulting in receipt of a Texas law license within 9 months of hire date.
• Must maintain good standing as a licensed attorney with the State Bar of Texas or an equivalent state bar association after admission.

Skills or Special Abilities:

• Must be able to effectively communicate with all levels of PCHP and Parkland system personnel.
• Must be a good team player, able to work well with colleagues and other departments, and to coordinate effectively with internal and outside legal counsel in appropriate circumstances.
• Must have good investigative skills.
• Must be organized, detail oriented and have excellent oral and written communication and negotiation skills.
• Must have critical thinking and practical strategy skills as applied to managed care, HMO, and hospital/ healthcare business.
• Must be able to quickly analyze operational information and provide first-line legal advice.
• Must participate in 24/7 attorney on-call rotation schedule (currently, one week every 7-8 weeks).
• Must be willing to learn new areas of managed care, healthcare operations and law sufficient to support an HMO, as well as an innovative, dynamic academic medical center.
• Must effectively manage outside counsel, Legal Affairs paralegals, and other staff.

• Ability to understand the legal framework associated with an HMO such as the specific rules, networks, care coordination and administrative processes.
• Negotiates, drafts, and interprets a wide variety of contracts for managed care providers, behavioral health, vision care and pharmacy benefits, vendors, and other agreements in such a manner as to obtain terms and conditions that are favorable for the PCHP organization.
• Provides counsel to internal PCHP teams on legal matters impacting their contracts and areas of responsibility.
• Reviews and drafts governance documents, including various committee and policy documents in accordance with state and federal laws, regulations, and accreditation standards.
• May manage litigation against PCHP, including developing legal strategies, pre-litigation investigations, document preservation and discovery practice, preparing…