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Kathleen O'Neill

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Kathleen M. O'Neill is an associate in the Corporate Practice Group in the firm's Chicago office.

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Healthcare organizations of every shape and size are rapidly expanding their use of artificial intelligence solutions from high-risk applications like clinical decision-support interventions, ambient listening, and charting to lower-risk administrative activities like automated patient communications and scheduling. While adoption is widespread and increasing in depth and breadth across the industry, not every healthcare organization has established governance around AI or a monitoring process for exploration and adoption of new tools – including those contemplating a sale of assets or equity. For buyers in healthcare mergers and acquisitions today, AI diligence needs to be a focus, given the potential risk of compliance and class action concerns related to high-risk AI solutions, particularly those that have any interaction with protected health information (“PHI”) regulated under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, as amended and pursuant to its implementing regulations (collectively, “HIPAA”).Continue Reading AI Due Diligence in Healthcare Transactions

With increased consolidation of traditional medical practices and declining reimbursement rates, many physicians are turning to alternative models like concierge medicine to preserve their independence. Concierge medicine allows physicians to offer personalized, high-quality care to patients in exchange for a membership fee. This model is governed by private service agreements that outline the relationship between the patient and healthcare provider, detailing the services provided, terms of access, and financial obligations. Unlike traditional practices, concierge medicine operates with a smaller patient panel, fewer insurance constraints, and a focus on improved patient access. Continue Reading So You Want to Start a Concierge Medicine Practice? Here are Five Key Legal Considerations

Nearly three years ago, the passage of California Bill AB 890, effective January 1, 2023, set in motion a future pathway for qualified nurse practitioners (“NPs”) to practice independently under a new category of licensure. Specifically, AB 890 delineated two potential pathways for California NPs to practice without standardized procedures in certain settings:[1] as “103 NPs” and “104 NPs” (described below). On January 1, 2026, nurse practitioners licensed in California will be eligible for “104 NP” status for the first time. Here, we explore interim legal developments since AB 890 took effect, and discuss how healthcare organizations can incorporate 103 NPs into their existing workforce and strategically prepare for 104 NPs.Continue Reading Pulse Check: How is Your California Practice Leveraging “103 NPs” – and Preparing for the Arrival of “104 NPs” in 2026?

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in healthcare is revolutionizing the industry, bringing efficiencies to the practice of medicine and benefits to patients. However, the negotiation of third-party AI tools requires a nuanced understanding of the tool’s application, implementation, risk and the contractual pressure points. Before entering the negotiation room, consider the following key insights:Continue Reading Key Considerations Before Negotiating Healthcare AI Vendor Contracts

The recent U.S. election has had profound implications for the healthcare industry, prompting industry leaders to reexamine their strategies and day-to-day operations. At the Miami Herbert Business School’s annual “The Business of Health Care” conference on January 24, 2025, a pivotal forum brought together stakeholders across key sectors—home care, hospital systems, payors, and others—to assess the election’s impact and chart a path forward. The conference highlighted the need for collaboration, innovative solutions, and strategic leadership in addressing the challenges ahead.Continue Reading Healthcare Industry Leaders Predict Four Areas to Watch After the U.S. Election: Takeaways from the Business of Health Care Conference Hosted by the Miami Herbert Business School

Where Physician Burnout and Value-Based Care Intersect

This series explores legal issues related to physician burnout and potential solutions, and here we explore the potential impact of value-based care (“VBC”). Our first post addressed how healthcare organizations can foster the psychological safety and emotional well-being of their physicians. Our second post discussed artificial intelligence solutions as a potential way to attract, support and retain overwhelmed clinicians. Here, we explore how VBC can promote physician satisfaction and physician wellness by:Continue Reading Healing the Healers: Using Value-Based Care Strategies to Mitigate Physician Burnout

This series explores legal issues related to physician burnout and potential solutions. Our first post addressed how healthcare organizations can foster the psychological safety and emotional wellbeing of their physicians. Clients regularly report that charting and documenting, and communicating with patients via EMR is a substantial contributor to physician burnout. Here, we discuss artificial intelligence as a potential way to attract, support and retain clinicians overwhelmed by ever-growing to-do lists, allowing them to focus on delivering clinical care.Continue Reading Solving for Physician Burnout: How Organizations Can Deploy AI Solutions to Effectively Support Physician Workloads and Avoid Legal Pitfalls

At last week’s America’s Physician Groups Spring conference in San Diego, California, we listened as physicians and health system leaders described the ways in which they are responding to short and long term challenges to the sustainability of America’s healthcare system in its current form. It now stands at a critical juncture, facing challenges such as provider shortages and burnout, increasing concerns around access and cost for pharmaceutical products and other supplies, the increasing burden of managing chronic diseases, rising demand for services across the spectrum from an aging population, and balancing the transition to value-based care models in a predominantly fee-for-service environment.Continue Reading Acting Now to Sustain and Improve America’s Healthcare System: Advice from Innovative Physicians and Health System Leaders

At last week’s America’s Physician Group Spring conference in San Diego, California, our team heard firsthand how physicians are leading efforts to integrate Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications in ambulatory and inpatient settings in major healthcare systems across the nation. Physician and IT leaders described in detail their organizations’ efforts to identify safe, cost-effective, desirable ways to leverage AI to enhance the efficiency and quality of patient care and reduce physicians’ administrative workload. Here, we highlight key approaches that have generated early success for various health systems and physician groups, as well as key pitfalls that participants looking to adopt these technologies need to account for in their planning.Continue Reading How Physicians are Pioneering Use of AI Applications in Ambulatory and Inpatient Care

Our clients report that addressing and preventing burnout for their physicians and other caregivers continues to be a critical priority in the aftermath of the pandemic. Healthcare organizations need high functioning, engaged clinicians to provide outstanding care and meet goals for quality patient outcomes. However, many grapple with how to create and maintain a robust organizational culture where physicians feel psychologically safe and well resourced, and in which they report lower rates of burnout. In light of ongoing physician shortages, particularly in primary care and high-demand specialties like radiology, effectively recruiting and retaining physicians is critical to delivering care, maintaining contractual staffing commitments, providing for more consistent revenue, and reducing associated costs. We hear often that physicians feel they are being asked to do more with less and adapt to a rapidly changing environment in terms of clinical care, medical record documentation, patient communication, mid-level supervision, and technological advancements. In response, many of our clients are actively exploring how to support providers, create and sustain a cohesive organizational culture, and reduce burnout rates. In this article, we discuss one piece of that larger puzzle – the importance of promoting psychological safety for physicians through both internal programming and participation in external opportunities.Continue Reading Solving for Physician Burnout: Creating a Culture of Psychological Safety

Congress passed the Corporate Transparency Act (the “CTA”) in 2021 with the aim of enhancing transparency in entity structures and ownership as well as combating terrorism, money laundering, and other forms of corporate misconduct. This sweeping new rule is designed to cast a wide net over entities that, except in the case of taxes, do not regularly report to federal agencies (i.e., non-publicly traded entities), regardless of the degree to which they are already regulated at the state level. This post specifically speaks to medical groups and management services organizations (“MSOs”) that now need to navigate the new CTA requirements and account for their complex contractual relationships (e.g., management services agreements, equity restriction or succession agreements). For additional information on a particular topic, links to helpful resources have been provided in the footnotes.Continue Reading The Corporate Transparency Act: A Reporting Guide for Medical Groups and MSOs