ABA Health Law Section

06/22/2026

The official brochure is here!

Whether you’re advising MCOs, ACOs, MSOs, ICNs, PBMs, TPAs, tribal health plans, or self-funded ERISA plans, MCI is where today’s complexities become tomorrow’s legal strategies. This is the ultimate gathering for attorneys in private practice, government, and in-house roles who are ready to dive deep into the legal, regulatory, and policy trends reshaping the managed care landscape.

We have some great speakers and sessions lined up to you with over 13 hours of CLE!

A special thank you to our 2026 planning committee David Ellenbogen, Kenneth (Kenny) White, Jeff Wurzburg and Michelle Skipper for putting together this excellent program!

06/19/2026

Since AI is emerging as a significant tool in the drug development process, the implications of intellectual property exclusivity and its impact on consumers is a topic of debate. In this ABA Health Lawyer article, Liliana Segura reviews U.S. and international treatment of AI with regard to patent inventorship status, with most concluding that only inventions resulting from human conception should qualify for patent protection, and presents legal options for addressing the challenges presented by AI in the inventive process.

Liliana attended EMI 2026 as the winner of our 2026 Law Student Writing Competition.

Read Liliana's article here: https://www.americanbar.org/groups/health_law/resources/health-lawyer/2026/drugs-ex-machina-ai-pharmaceutical-inventorship/

06/17/2026

Federal regulations establish broad standards governing resident care, nursing services, quality assurance, and interdisciplinary care planning. However, in litigation, the central question is rarely whether those standards existed on paper but rather whether the facility’s systems, staff, and leadership consistently translated those standards into real-world care delivery. This ABA Health eSource by Steven C. Smyth, looks at the gap between policy and practice, which is where liability most often develops.

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In long-term care litigation, written policy is often the starting point, but rarely the deciding factor.

06/12/2026

The complexities of specialty medications can trigger steep operational and logistical expenses that translate to exorbitant prices that are often not picked up by insurers, but rather passed down to patients. The problem is growing as life expectancy rates increase, along with the number of Americans suffering from chronic conditions who are in dire need of specialty prescriptions; in addition, specialty drugs now include cell and gene therapies (CGTs) as well as GLP-1 weight loss drugs. As a result, some insurers have tightened restrictions on other specialty drugs as they have grappled with means for offsetting the costs of weight loss drugs and CGT therapies. In this ABA Health eSource article, David Ostrowsky of The Phia Group discusses the impact on patients who need specialty drugs.

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Contrary to the vast majority of retail drugs, specialty medications are manufactured to cure grave, chronic, and/or rare conditions, thus necessitating—per their name—specialized management, monitoring, and administration.

06/10/2026

The NSA reshaped reimbursement dynamics across emergency departments, air ambulance services, and in network facilities relying on out of network clinicians. However, since its enactment, the statute’s implementation has generated significant litigation, regulatory reversals, and administrative backlogs that continue to affect how disputes are resolved in practice. In this article from ABA Health Lawyer, Craig Nierman outlines the NSA’s core provisions and examines how recent federal court decisions—particularly those addressing arbitration criteria, agency authority, and judicial review—have defined the contours of out-of-network reimbursement under the Act.

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Unexpected out-of-network (OON) medical bills—particularly in emergency settings—long stood at the intersection of consumer outrage and provider reimbursement disputes.

06/08/2026

Contacts everywhere, relationships that last, a community worth being a part of. That's the ABA Health Law Section according to Hannah Chanin.

See what ABA Health Law membership could do for you at ambar.org/health

06/05/2026

The central obstacle of using generative AI in litigation arises from the sensitive nature of the information health lawyers handle. This Health Lawyer article by Patrick Barone offers a practical framework for using generative AI as a reasoning tool rather than a repository for sensitive information, enabling lawyers to capture the analytical advantages of the technology while maintaining their professional obligations.

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Healthcare lawyers increasingly operate in environments defined by complexity, sensitivity, and heightened scrutiny.

06/03/2026

New Episode of Voices in Health Law!

Lisbeth Bulmash from JAMS joins Matthew Fisher to provide a grounding in what alternative dispute resolution covers. After discussing the basics of what ADR means, Lisbeth discusses issues that commonly bring healthcare parties to pursue ADR. Lisbeth also discusses how AI is currently helping the ADR process along with some cautionary notes.

Listen Now: https://www.americanbar.org/groups/health_law/resources/podcast/

06/02/2026

Calling all New Members!

Interested in learning more about all your Health Law Section membership has to offer? Join HLS Leadership next Wednesday (6/10) for our New Member Orientation.

Register Now: https://www.americanbar.org/events-cle/mtg/web/456715134/

06/01/2026

In response to a recent eSource article on for-profit patient advocates, Malynnda Stewart, PhD, BCPA and Heidi Ku**er, MD, MPH, BCPA set out a distinction between different models of independent professional patient and health care advocacy. They assert that there are two primary models of for-profit patient advocacy that differ in their client relationships, compensation structures, scope of service, and ethical obligations; some independent advocates are retained directly by patients or families, and their primary obligation is exclusive loyalty to the patient or client they serve.

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A recent article in ABA Health eSource raises legitimate concerns about certain profit-driven models operating under the label of patient advocacy