The officers of the Health Law Section were elected at the annual meeting held on Nov. 9, 2007. They are: Chair: Patricia A. Rogers, McAfee & Taft, Oklahoma City; Vice Chair: Augustus (Chip) Edmunds, Assistant General Counsel, BlueCross BlueShield of Oklahoma, Tulsa; Secretary: Susan Moebius Henderson, Legal Counsel, INTEGRIS Health, Inc., Oklahoma City; and Budget Officer: Michael J. McDaniel, LaCourse Davis Coffey & Gudgel, Tulsa. We had approximately 25 members of the section attend the November 2007 annual meeting. Mr. Cassell Lawson, Director of Opportunities of Living Life, a division of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, spoke to the group about Long-Term Care Partnership Insurance, which was scheduled to roll out in the spring of 2008. In addition, the outgoing Chair of the Health Law Section, David B. McKinney, Gable Gotwals, Tulsa, provided an annual legal update summarizing key state and federal legislation and court decisions of interest.

On June 25, 2008, the Health Law Section held a summer meeting, which was attended by approximately 50 members. Our guest speaker was Kenneth L. Mattox, M.D., who provided an on-the-scene account of the planning, implementation, personnel management and potential liability issues encountered during the 14-day clinical response to Hurricane Katrina. Dr. Mattox is professor and vice chairman of the Department of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine and Chief of Staff at Ben Taub General Hospital, Houston, Texas. Dr. Mattox was part of the four-member medical branch and supervised the medical care for 27,700 Katrina evacuees. His talk was very well-received by the members of the Health Law Section and was particularly timely in light of the 2008 tornado season.

During the year, the Health Law Section was active in a number of matters. The Oklahoma Hospital Association asked for the section’s input regarding a bill that was introduced which would result in significant changes to the Oklahoma Certificate of Need statutes applicable to inpatient facilities providing psychiatric and chemical dependency beds. Oklahoma College of Law Professor Fred Miller asked for the section to assist in preparing Oklahoma comments to be published in Oklahoma Statutes Annotated to explain the need for revisions in the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act. Susan Moebius Henderson volunteered to assist Professor Miller in this project and to recruit others to assist if necessary.

A Health Law Section member, Gary Payne, Chief Administrative Law Judge, Oklahoma State Department of Health (“OSDH”), asked the section to consider sponsoring a legal intern to provide services at OSDH. The section discussed this matter at its June 2008 meeting. Some members voiced concerns about the Health Law Section funding a program that would benefit a state agency. Other members stated that the Health Law Section should be actively involved in interviewing candidates for the internship and structuring the internship. Many members were in favor of sponsoring an internship with section funds, as long as the OBA rules permitted it to do so. The chair reviewed the OBA’s Guide for Committees and Sections and confirmed with OBA’s Director of Administration that section funds may be used to sponsor an internship program as long as the internship benefits section members. Members agreed that the intern, at a minimum, should provide a report to the Health Law Section at the end of the internship. Members requested that a specific proposal be developed for review and approval. The section asked the chair to develop a proposal to email to members in the following months or to take to members for review at the annual meeting in November. The chair is in the process of drafting a health law internship proposal.

The section has scheduled its annual meeting to be held on Nov. 19, 2008, in conjunction with the OBA’s Annual Meeting. At the time of this report, the section was still making plans for a speaker. New officers will be elected.

Patricia A. Rogers
Chairperson