Joel G. Wakefield

Joel assists hospitals, other healthcare facilities, and multi-specialty physician groups as they address the many transactional, regulatory, and operational issues facing the health care industry. He helps clients structure, negotiate, and implement effective financial relationships with their business partners, and has extensive experience in hospital/physician joint ventures, management and administrative service arrangements, professional service contracts, information systems contracting and all manner of other business relationships. He assists clients as they navigate the anti-kickback laws, Stark, and the wide array of other regulatory obligations health care providers face, particularly in light of changes in the industry resulting from healthcare reform. He also relies on his extended experience as in-house counsel in helping hospitals address all manner of day-to-day operational issues.
 
Before joining the firm, Joel practiced in the health law department of Davis Wright Tremaine in Seattle, Washington, and served as in-house counsel for Virginia Mason Medical Center, a large multi-specialty group practice with 400 employed physicians, a teaching hospital, a health plan and an active research center.  While at Virginia Mason Joel was instrumental in establishing and advising the organization’s corporate compliance program and HIPAA team. He also served as the Director of Government Relations and the Director of Risk Management.

EDUCATION AND BAR ADMISSIONS

• J.D., University of Chicago, 1991, with honors
• B.A., Brigham Young University, 1988
• Admitted in Arizona, 2003
• Admitted in Washington, 1991 (inactive)

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

• Assisting hospital and other healthcare clients in the assessment of healthcare reform and the implementation of strategic responses to industry change

• Advising the Arizona Hospital and Association on contracting and regulatory issues

• Representing hospitals in establishing business relationships with community physicians, including joint ventures, on-call services agreements, and professional services arrangements

• Negotiating information systems contracts for hospital and other healthcare clients

• Representing a provider-owned health plan in structuring and negotiating business operations

• Serving as local counsel for national hospital systems with Arizona facilities, as well as counseling on legal aspects of out-of-state transactions

• Drafting and counseling on the development of legislation

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES AND RECOGNITIONS

• Listed in Best Lawyers in America for Health Care   (2011-2012)

• Listed in Arizona's Finest Lawyers 2011

• President, Arizona Association of Health Care Attorneys (2004-08); AAHCL Board (2003–present), Annual Meeting Chair (2004)
•  American Bar Association Health Law Section; Vice-Chair, Fraud and Compliance Interest Group (2009-present); Co-Chair, Emerging Issues Conference (2007-09)
• President, Washington State Society of Healthcare Attorneys (2001); WSSHA Board Member (1999-2002)
• Founding member and planning committee member, American Group Practice Association Counsel of Group Practice Attorneys
• Fluent in Spanish

REPRESENTATIVE PUBLICATIONS AND SPEECHES

• “Finding Your Way Through Healthcare Reform,” AzHHA Webinar Series (2010)
• “Healthcare Reform: Lessons for the Emergency Room,” AzHHA EMTALA Seminar (2010)
• "The Relentless Consistency of Change - 7 Things You Need to Know about the Direction of Health Care Law," HFMA-Arizona Chapter (2010)
• "The HITECH Act: The Carrot and the Stick-Paying for the EHR," AzHHA Webinar (2009)
• “Stark Reality – Hacking Our Way through the Health Care Regulatory Jungle,” Health Care Update sponsored by the New Mexico Bar Association and local chapters of the MGMA and HFMA (2009)
• “How To Cultivate Mentors and Other Survival Tips For Any Organization,” Arizona State Bar Leadership Institute (2009)
• “The New Stark Rules: Analysis and Application,” (Moderator) ABA Emerging Issues in Health Care Law Conference (2009)
• "A Hospital and Its On-Call Physicians: Doing What's Right Without Doing Anything Wrong,"  AzHHA EMTALA Seminar (November 2009)
• “Fundamentals of a Health Care Transaction,” ABA Emerging Issues in Health Care Law Conference (2008)
• “Stark Reality – Phase III Final Rules and Beyond,” AzHHA Webinar (2007)
• "Stark Reality – Phase III Final Rules and Beyond – Changes for Hospital/Physician Relationships," Teleconference for AzHHA (October 2007)
• “Document Retention: A Quick Reference Guide,” Journal of Health Care Law, (Fall, 2004)
• Arizona Consent and Health Information Resource Manual, co-author (2004, 2009)