Senior Counsel - Value Based Care Initiatives

As the largest and leading value-based kidney care company, Somatus is empowering patients across the country living with chronic kidney disease to experience more days out of the hospital and healthier at home. 

It takes a village of passionate and tenacious innovators to revolutionize an industry and support individuals living with a chronic disease to fulfill our purpose of creating More Lives, Better Lived. Does this sound like you?

Showing Up Somatus Strong

We foster an inclusive work environment that promotes collaboration and innovation at every level. Our values bring our mission to life and serve as the DNA for every decision we make:

• Authenticity: We believe in real dialogue. In any interaction, with patients, partners, vendors, or our teammates, we are true to who we are, say what we mean, and mean what we say.
• Collaboration: We appreciate what every person at Somatus brings to the table and believe that together we can do and achieve more.
• Empowerment: We make sure every voice gets heard and all ideas are considered, especially when it comes to our patients’ lives or our partners’ best interests.
• Innovation: We relentlessly look for ways to improve upon the status quo to continuously deliver new solutions. 
• Tenacity: We see challenges as opportunities for growth and improvement — especially when new solutions will make a difference for our patients and partners.

Showing Up for You

We offer more than 25 Health, Growth, and Wealth Work Perks to help teammates learn, grow, and be the best version of themselves, including:

• Subsidized, personal healthcare coverage (medical, dental vision)
• Flexible Paid Time Off (PTO)
• Professional Development, CEU, and Tuition Reimbursement
• Curated Wellness Benefits supporting teammates physical and mental well-being
• Community engagement opportunities
• And more!

The Senior Counsel - Value Based Care (VBC) Initiatives role will primarily focus on drafting, negotiating, and advising on complex agreements with health plans, health systems/provider groups, and government-funded programs (e.g., Medicare Advantage, Medicaid Managed Care, CMMI Programs, and other state/federal initiatives). The ideal candidate is a practical, business-oriented lawyer who can manage a high-volume contract portfolio while advising internal stakeholders on healthcare regulatory and operational risk. This position will also support other strategic initiatives and advise internal clients on an array of legal matters.

• Lead the end-to-end legal evaluation and internal review process for customer contracts, including master services, agreements, statements of works, business associate agreements, amendments, renewals and government related agreements.
• Serve as the primary legal point of contract for contract interpretation, risk identification, and escalation of issues related to compensation terms, performance obligations and other key contract terms;
• Facilitate cross-functional contract review meetings and manage and track internal input from key stakeholders (e.g., Finance, Operations, Security, Medical Advisory, Compliance, Account Management, Business Development, Implementation team, etc.).
• Advise internal teams on contract structure and negotiation strategy, including alternative language, fallback positions, and risk mitigation approaches.
• Assess and communicate legal and regulatory issues in healthcare contracting, including HIPAA/privacy, Medicare and Medicaid and other government contracting requirements, and applicable state law.
• Evaluate and support the Company’s internal contracting policies, playbooks, and templates. Including identifying recurring issues and recommending re-design or improvements to standard terms and review workflows.
• Track contract status and key terms in collaboration with legal operations and contracting teams and ensure contract approvals follow internal governance requirements, and continually evaluate and make recommendations for improvements to the review process.
• Provide clear, concise and practical guidance to business stakeholders to enable informed decision making and promote strong customers relationships while protecting the Company’s interest.
• Coordinate and manage outside legal counsel when needed on specialized issues, such as government procurement requirements, or complex health regulatory matters.
• Provide advice and counsel on other legal matters, such as employment matters, corporate governance, vendor contracts, and regulatory requirements applicable to the Company

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

• A Juris Doctor degree from an accredited law school;
• Extensive knowledge of health care regulations and compliance, including Stark and Anti-Kickback, False Claims Act, corporate practice of medicine, licensure regulations, and other applicable laws and regulations;
• Drafting and review experience, particularly focused on value-based care program contracts with health plans, health systems, provider groups, and state and federal agencies;
• An active license to practice law in any state;
• Minimum of 7-10 years of both law firm and in-house experience;

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Strong writing and editing skills;
• Results-oriented, with a strong sense of urgency and good time- and people-management skills to manage multiple projects simultaneously;
• Detail-oriented with strong risk-spotting and issue-resolution skills
• Ability to balance legal risk with business needs and convey legal advice clearly and effectively to non-legal colleagues; and
• Comfort with contract lifecycle management (CLM) systems and scaling legal processes
• Experience in employment law (federal and multi-state)
• Experience with health-reform related initiatives (such as ACOs, CKCC, medical homes, bundled payment programs);
• Broad experience with a variety of legal matters, including health care, corporate, commercial contract negotiation, employment, compliance, privacy, corporate governance, and/or intellectual property; and
• Experience with independent drafting and negotiating a variety of agreements.