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Sunday, October 4, 2026

2:00 PM - 7:30 PM Registration & Welcome
Welcome to the 39th Annual Texas Health Law Conference! Skip the line tomorrow morning! Stop by the registration desk during the Welcome Reception to pick up your badge and kick off the conference with us.
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM Welcome Reception - Sponsored by TBD
Join us for the Welcome Reception as we kick off the conference with great conversations, refreshments, and networking. A special Thank You to our Sunday Welcome Reception sponsor, TBD, for their generous support
2:00 PM - 7:30 PM Registration & Welcome
Welcome to the 39th Annual Texas Health Law Conference! Skip the line tomorrow morning! Stop by the registration desk during the Welcome Reception to pick up your badge and kick off the conference with us.
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM Welcome Reception - Sponsored by TBD
Join us for the Welcome Reception as we kick off the conference with great conversations, refreshments, and networking. A special Thank You to our Sunday Welcome Reception sponsor, TBD, for their generous support

2:00 PM - 7:30 PM Registration & Welcome
Welcome to the 39th Annual Texas Health Law Conference! Skip the line tomorrow morning! Stop by the registration desk during the Welcome Reception to pick up your badge and kick off the conference with us.
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM Welcome Reception - Sponsored by TBD
Join us for the Welcome Reception as we kick off the conference with great conversations, refreshments, and networking. A special Thank You to our Sunday Welcome Reception sponsor, TBD, for their generous support

Monday, October 5, 2026

7:00 AM - 8:30 AM Monday Breakfast
Sponsored by Nichols Weitzner Thomas
8:00 AM - 8:45 AM Liability Update - Year in Review
8:45 AM - 9:30 AM Keynote - CMS Update TBD
9:30 AM - 10:15 AM The New Medicaid: The Provisions Texas Providers Cannot Afford to Miss
Medicaid programs across the country are changing because of statutes, regulations, and policies affecting every aspect of the delivery of care. Because Texas never expanded Medicaid, it will avoid some of the coming changes, but Texas hospitals, health systems, and academic medical centers face significant exposure from eligibility, financing, and coverage changes that will be felt through uncompensated-care and payment pressures. This presentation and discussion will focus on issues most likely to affect Texas providers, including pressures on reimbursement, the interaction between Medicaid losses and Marketplace changes in driving uninsured growth, restrictions on beneficiary eligibility, limits on delegating compliance determinations to manage care organizations, and the operational and legal risks created by medical frailty determinations and other exemption workflows. We will also discuss Medicaid state directed payment and provider tax rules altering significant portions of the provider reimbursement structure. Our goal is for participants to leave the presentation with a better understanding of the financial, operational, and legal challenges presented by the Medicaid program in coming years.
10:15 AM - 10:30 AM Monday Morning Break
10:30 AM - 11:15 AM Beyond the Acquisition: Health System Partnerships & PE’s Next Move
Healthcare transaction activity continues to evolve amid changing reimbursement pressures, workforce shortages, heightened regulatory scrutiny, and ongoing consolidation across the provider landscape. This session will provide attendees with a practical market update on healthcare transactions involving both health systems and independent physician practices, including emerging trends in provider alignment, strategic affiliations, and private equity investment activity. The panel will discuss how health systems and physician groups are approaching joint ventures and partnership models to achieve operational scale, improve care coordination, expand specialty service lines, and respond to competitive market pressures. Speakers will examine common transaction structures, governance considerations, and operational challenges associated with these arrangements. The session will also explore the continued role of private equity in healthcare, including investment trends in physician practice management platforms, management services organization (MSO) models, and specialty-focused roll-up strategies. Panelists will address financial and valuation trends, along with the evolving regulatory landscape impacting transactions, including antitrust scrutiny, corporate practice of medicine considerations, and increasing oversight of healthcare investments. The panelists will discuss current market examples and practical transaction insights, which will provide attendees with an overview of how strategic, financial, and regulatory considerations are shaping today’s healthcare deal environment and influencing future transaction activity.
11:15 AM - 12:00 PM The Peptide Puzzle: Regulatory Gray Zones and Emerging Enforcement
Peptides are everywhere — in compounding pharmacies, med spas, concierge practices, and direct-to-consumer wellness platforms. Yet many health care providers and their counsel remain uncertain about what peptides actually are, whether they are lawful, and how regulators are beginning to close in. This session provides a practical roadmap for health law practitioners advising clients in this rapidly evolving space. We will start with the science — what peptides are, how they differ from traditional pharmaceuticals and biologics, and why they have become a focal point of the wellness and anti-aging industries. From there, we walk through the most common peptides in clinical use, including BPC-157, semaglutide, and tirzepatide, and the ways they are prescribed, compounded, and marketed. The session then turns to the regulatory framework: how FDA, DEA, and state medical and pharmacy boards assert jurisdiction, with particular attention to compounding and the 503A/503B landscape. A candid look at recent FDA warning letters, DEA actions, state board investigations, and civil litigation will help attendees anticipate where enforcement is headed. The presentation concludes with practical risk management strategies counsel can deploy when advising physicians, compounders, med spas, and health systems. Whether your clients are already in the peptide space or you are fielding new inquiries, you will leave with a framework to analyze each situation and a checklist of issues to raise.
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM Networking Luncheon - Sponsored by JTaylor and Associates, LLC
Enjoy meaningful conversations and valuable connections during our Networking Lunch, proudly sponsored by our Diamond Sponsor, JTaylor and Associates, LLC
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Reducing Provider and Patient Risk in Pregnancy-Related Care
This multidisciplinary panel will introduce a new Texas hospital protocol and policy toolkit developed through a collaboration between the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Doctor–Lawyer Alliance, and Lawyers for Good Government. Bringing together emergency medicine physicians, obstetricians and gynecologists, and attorneys with extensive experience in reproductive health law, the session will focus on the role health law attorneys and in-house counsel can play in helping hospitals and clinicians navigate pregnancy-related emergency care in Texas. Designed for hospitals, health systems, clinicians, and in-house counsel, this toolkit offers practical, protocol-based guidance to support lawful, timely, evidence-based care for pregnancy-related emergencies in Texas. The panel will review the evolving legal landscape, including Senate Bill 31, and explore how hospitals can translate legal frameworks into actionable policies and clinical protocols. Panelists will discuss the critical role attorneys can play in reducing risk to patients, clinicians, and institutions through clear protocols, decision support, and stronger institutional preparedness.
2:00 PM - 2:45 PM Provider-Based Compliance / Reimbursement & Medicare Enrollment
As physician practices continue to affiliate and align with hospital systems, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, enacted on February 3, 2026, has established new requirements for “provider-based” departments that present fresh challenges for providers. This session will provide an overview of the requirements for provider-based designation, why the designation matters for payment, coverage, billing, and compliance, including key policy shifts leading to the CAA 2026. The latest CMS updates and practical tips for compliance with the CAA 2026 requirements for off-campus departments—mandatory NPIs and attestations beginning January 1, 2028—will be covered in the presentation.
3:00 PM - 3:30 PM Monday Afternoon Break
3:00 PM - 3:45 PM IDR - Independent Dispute Resolution
3:45 PM - 4:30 PM AI Panel - Ethics Focused
4:30 PM - 5:15 PM PSQIA: What Healthcare Counsel Should Know
Patient Safety Work Product remains one of the most misunderstood concepts in healthcare law. Many healthcare attorneys are familiar with state peer review protections but have limited experience advising clients on the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act (PSQIA), Patient Safety Organizations (PSOs), and Patient Safety Evaluation Systems (PSESs). As healthcare organizations face increasing pressure to improve quality outcomes, comply with CMS patient safety initiatives, and foster a culture of safety, understanding the strategic role of PSQIA has become increasingly important. This session will provide healthcare attorneys with a practical framework for advising hospitals, health systems, physician groups, and other providers regarding the creation and management of Patient Safety Work Product. Through case studies and real-world examples, participants will learn how PSQIA protections interact with state peer review laws, accreditation requirements, regulatory reporting obligations, and medical staff processes. The session will also address common misconceptions that lead organizations to underutilize PSOs and will explore how a properly structured Patient Safety Evaluation System can support both organizational learning and legal risk management. Attendees will leave with practical tools for helping clients distinguish protected and non-protected information, evaluate disclosure obligations, and integrate patient safety activities into broader quality and compliance initiatives.
5:15 PM - 6:15 PM Networking Reception - Sponsored by Husch Blackwell
Join fellow attendees at our Networking Reception, made possible through the generous support of our Platinum Sponsor, Husch Blackwell.
7:00 AM - 8:30 AM Monday Breakfast
Sponsored by Nichols Weitzner Thomas
8:00 AM - 8:45 AM Liability Update - Year in Review
8:45 AM - 9:30 AM Keynote - CMS Update TBD
9:30 AM - 10:15 AM The New Medicaid: The Provisions Texas Providers Cannot Afford to Miss
Medicaid programs across the country are changing because of statutes, regulations, and policies affecting every aspect of the delivery of care. Because Texas never expanded Medicaid, it will avoid some of the coming changes, but Texas hospitals, health systems, and academic medical centers face significant exposure from eligibility, financing, and coverage changes that will be felt through uncompensated-care and payment pressures. This presentation and discussion will focus on issues most likely to affect Texas providers, including pressures on reimbursement, the interaction between Medicaid losses and Marketplace changes in driving uninsured growth, restrictions on beneficiary eligibility, limits on delegating compliance determinations to manage care organizations, and the operational and legal risks created by medical frailty determinations and other exemption workflows. We will also discuss Medicaid state directed payment and provider tax rules altering significant portions of the provider reimbursement structure. Our goal is for participants to leave the presentation with a better understanding of the financial, operational, and legal challenges presented by the Medicaid program in coming years.
10:15 AM - 10:30 AM Monday Morning Break
10:30 AM - 11:15 AM Beyond the Acquisition: Health System Partnerships & PE’s Next Move
Healthcare transaction activity continues to evolve amid changing reimbursement pressures, workforce shortages, heightened regulatory scrutiny, and ongoing consolidation across the provider landscape. This session will provide attendees with a practical market update on healthcare transactions involving both health systems and independent physician practices, including emerging trends in provider alignment, strategic affiliations, and private equity investment activity. The panel will discuss how health systems and physician groups are approaching joint ventures and partnership models to achieve operational scale, improve care coordination, expand specialty service lines, and respond to competitive market pressures. Speakers will examine common transaction structures, governance considerations, and operational challenges associated with these arrangements. The session will also explore the continued role of private equity in healthcare, including investment trends in physician practice management platforms, management services organization (MSO) models, and specialty-focused roll-up strategies. Panelists will address financial and valuation trends, along with the evolving regulatory landscape impacting transactions, including antitrust scrutiny, corporate practice of medicine considerations, and increasing oversight of healthcare investments. The panelists will discuss current market examples and practical transaction insights, which will provide attendees with an overview of how strategic, financial, and regulatory considerations are shaping today’s healthcare deal environment and influencing future transaction activity.
11:15 AM - 12:00 PM The Peptide Puzzle: Regulatory Gray Zones and Emerging Enforcement
Peptides are everywhere — in compounding pharmacies, med spas, concierge practices, and direct-to-consumer wellness platforms. Yet many health care providers and their counsel remain uncertain about what peptides actually are, whether they are lawful, and how regulators are beginning to close in. This session provides a practical roadmap for health law practitioners advising clients in this rapidly evolving space. We will start with the science — what peptides are, how they differ from traditional pharmaceuticals and biologics, and why they have become a focal point of the wellness and anti-aging industries. From there, we walk through the most common peptides in clinical use, including BPC-157, semaglutide, and tirzepatide, and the ways they are prescribed, compounded, and marketed. The session then turns to the regulatory framework: how FDA, DEA, and state medical and pharmacy boards assert jurisdiction, with particular attention to compounding and the 503A/503B landscape. A candid look at recent FDA warning letters, DEA actions, state board investigations, and civil litigation will help attendees anticipate where enforcement is headed. The presentation concludes with practical risk management strategies counsel can deploy when advising physicians, compounders, med spas, and health systems. Whether your clients are already in the peptide space or you are fielding new inquiries, you will leave with a framework to analyze each situation and a checklist of issues to raise.
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM Networking Luncheon - Sponsored by JTaylor and Associates, LLC
Enjoy meaningful conversations and valuable connections during our Networking Lunch, proudly sponsored by our Diamond Sponsor, JTaylor and Associates, LLC
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Reducing Provider and Patient Risk in Pregnancy-Related Care
This multidisciplinary panel will introduce a new Texas hospital protocol and policy toolkit developed through a collaboration between the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Doctor–Lawyer Alliance, and Lawyers for Good Government. Bringing together emergency medicine physicians, obstetricians and gynecologists, and attorneys with extensive experience in reproductive health law, the session will focus on the role health law attorneys and in-house counsel can play in helping hospitals and clinicians navigate pregnancy-related emergency care in Texas. Designed for hospitals, health systems, clinicians, and in-house counsel, this toolkit offers practical, protocol-based guidance to support lawful, timely, evidence-based care for pregnancy-related emergencies in Texas. The panel will review the evolving legal landscape, including Senate Bill 31, and explore how hospitals can translate legal frameworks into actionable policies and clinical protocols. Panelists will discuss the critical role attorneys can play in reducing risk to patients, clinicians, and institutions through clear protocols, decision support, and stronger institutional preparedness.
2:00 PM - 2:45 PM Provider-Based Compliance / Reimbursement & Medicare Enrollment
As physician practices continue to affiliate and align with hospital systems, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, enacted on February 3, 2026, has established new requirements for “provider-based” departments that present fresh challenges for providers. This session will provide an overview of the requirements for provider-based designation, why the designation matters for payment, coverage, billing, and compliance, including key policy shifts leading to the CAA 2026. The latest CMS updates and practical tips for compliance with the CAA 2026 requirements for off-campus departments—mandatory NPIs and attestations beginning January 1, 2028—will be covered in the presentation.
3:00 PM - 3:30 PM Monday Afternoon Break
3:00 PM - 3:45 PM IDR - Independent Dispute Resolution
3:45 PM - 4:30 PM AI Panel - Ethics Focused
4:30 PM - 5:15 PM PSQIA: What Healthcare Counsel Should Know
Patient Safety Work Product remains one of the most misunderstood concepts in healthcare law. Many healthcare attorneys are familiar with state peer review protections but have limited experience advising clients on the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act (PSQIA), Patient Safety Organizations (PSOs), and Patient Safety Evaluation Systems (PSESs). As healthcare organizations face increasing pressure to improve quality outcomes, comply with CMS patient safety initiatives, and foster a culture of safety, understanding the strategic role of PSQIA has become increasingly important. This session will provide healthcare attorneys with a practical framework for advising hospitals, health systems, physician groups, and other providers regarding the creation and management of Patient Safety Work Product. Through case studies and real-world examples, participants will learn how PSQIA protections interact with state peer review laws, accreditation requirements, regulatory reporting obligations, and medical staff processes. The session will also address common misconceptions that lead organizations to underutilize PSOs and will explore how a properly structured Patient Safety Evaluation System can support both organizational learning and legal risk management. Attendees will leave with practical tools for helping clients distinguish protected and non-protected information, evaluate disclosure obligations, and integrate patient safety activities into broader quality and compliance initiatives.
5:15 PM - 6:15 PM Networking Reception - Sponsored by Husch Blackwell
Join fellow attendees at our Networking Reception, made possible through the generous support of our Platinum Sponsor, Husch Blackwell.

7:00 AM - 8:30 AM Monday Breakfast
Sponsored by Nichols Weitzner Thomas
8:00 AM - 8:45 AM Liability Update - Year in Review
8:45 AM - 9:30 AM Keynote - CMS Update TBD
9:30 AM - 10:15 AM The New Medicaid: The Provisions Texas Providers Cannot Afford to Miss
Medicaid programs across the country are changing because of statutes, regulations, and policies affecting every aspect of the delivery of care. Because Texas never expanded Medicaid, it will avoid some of the coming changes, but Texas hospitals, health systems, and academic medical centers face significant exposure from eligibility, financing, and coverage changes that will be felt through uncompensated-care and payment pressures. This presentation and discussion will focus on issues most likely to affect Texas providers, including pressures on reimbursement, the interaction between Medicaid losses and Marketplace changes in driving uninsured growth, restrictions on beneficiary eligibility, limits on delegating compliance determinations to manage care organizations, and the operational and legal risks created by medical frailty determinations and other exemption workflows. We will also discuss Medicaid state directed payment and provider tax rules altering significant portions of the provider reimbursement structure. Our goal is for participants to leave the presentation with a better understanding of the financial, operational, and legal challenges presented by the Medicaid program in coming years.
10:15 AM - 10:30 AM Monday Morning Break
10:30 AM - 11:15 AM Beyond the Acquisition: Health System Partnerships & PE’s Next Move
Healthcare transaction activity continues to evolve amid changing reimbursement pressures, workforce shortages, heightened regulatory scrutiny, and ongoing consolidation across the provider landscape. This session will provide attendees with a practical market update on healthcare transactions involving both health systems and independent physician practices, including emerging trends in provider alignment, strategic affiliations, and private equity investment activity. The panel will discuss how health systems and physician groups are approaching joint ventures and partnership models to achieve operational scale, improve care coordination, expand specialty service lines, and respond to competitive market pressures. Speakers will examine common transaction structures, governance considerations, and operational challenges associated with these arrangements. The session will also explore the continued role of private equity in healthcare, including investment trends in physician practice management platforms, management services organization (MSO) models, and specialty-focused roll-up strategies. Panelists will address financial and valuation trends, along with the evolving regulatory landscape impacting transactions, including antitrust scrutiny, corporate practice of medicine considerations, and increasing oversight of healthcare investments. The panelists will discuss current market examples and practical transaction insights, which will provide attendees with an overview of how strategic, financial, and regulatory considerations are shaping today’s healthcare deal environment and influencing future transaction activity.
11:15 AM - 12:00 PM The Peptide Puzzle: Regulatory Gray Zones and Emerging Enforcement
Peptides are everywhere — in compounding pharmacies, med spas, concierge practices, and direct-to-consumer wellness platforms. Yet many health care providers and their counsel remain uncertain about what peptides actually are, whether they are lawful, and how regulators are beginning to close in. This session provides a practical roadmap for health law practitioners advising clients in this rapidly evolving space. We will start with the science — what peptides are, how they differ from traditional pharmaceuticals and biologics, and why they have become a focal point of the wellness and anti-aging industries. From there, we walk through the most common peptides in clinical use, including BPC-157, semaglutide, and tirzepatide, and the ways they are prescribed, compounded, and marketed. The session then turns to the regulatory framework: how FDA, DEA, and state medical and pharmacy boards assert jurisdiction, with particular attention to compounding and the 503A/503B landscape. A candid look at recent FDA warning letters, DEA actions, state board investigations, and civil litigation will help attendees anticipate where enforcement is headed. The presentation concludes with practical risk management strategies counsel can deploy when advising physicians, compounders, med spas, and health systems. Whether your clients are already in the peptide space or you are fielding new inquiries, you will leave with a framework to analyze each situation and a checklist of issues to raise.
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM Networking Luncheon - Sponsored by JTaylor and Associates, LLC
Enjoy meaningful conversations and valuable connections during our Networking Lunch, proudly sponsored by our Diamond Sponsor, JTaylor and Associates, LLC
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Reducing Provider and Patient Risk in Pregnancy-Related Care
This multidisciplinary panel will introduce a new Texas hospital protocol and policy toolkit developed through a collaboration between the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Doctor–Lawyer Alliance, and Lawyers for Good Government. Bringing together emergency medicine physicians, obstetricians and gynecologists, and attorneys with extensive experience in reproductive health law, the session will focus on the role health law attorneys and in-house counsel can play in helping hospitals and clinicians navigate pregnancy-related emergency care in Texas. Designed for hospitals, health systems, clinicians, and in-house counsel, this toolkit offers practical, protocol-based guidance to support lawful, timely, evidence-based care for pregnancy-related emergencies in Texas. The panel will review the evolving legal landscape, including Senate Bill 31, and explore how hospitals can translate legal frameworks into actionable policies and clinical protocols. Panelists will discuss the critical role attorneys can play in reducing risk to patients, clinicians, and institutions through clear protocols, decision support, and stronger institutional preparedness.
2:00 PM - 2:45 PM Provider-Based Compliance / Reimbursement & Medicare Enrollment
As physician practices continue to affiliate and align with hospital systems, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, enacted on February 3, 2026, has established new requirements for “provider-based” departments that present fresh challenges for providers. This session will provide an overview of the requirements for provider-based designation, why the designation matters for payment, coverage, billing, and compliance, including key policy shifts leading to the CAA 2026. The latest CMS updates and practical tips for compliance with the CAA 2026 requirements for off-campus departments—mandatory NPIs and attestations beginning January 1, 2028—will be covered in the presentation.
3:00 PM - 3:30 PM Monday Afternoon Break
3:00 PM - 3:45 PM IDR - Independent Dispute Resolution
3:45 PM - 4:30 PM AI Panel - Ethics Focused
4:30 PM - 5:15 PM PSQIA: What Healthcare Counsel Should Know
Patient Safety Work Product remains one of the most misunderstood concepts in healthcare law. Many healthcare attorneys are familiar with state peer review protections but have limited experience advising clients on the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act (PSQIA), Patient Safety Organizations (PSOs), and Patient Safety Evaluation Systems (PSESs). As healthcare organizations face increasing pressure to improve quality outcomes, comply with CMS patient safety initiatives, and foster a culture of safety, understanding the strategic role of PSQIA has become increasingly important. This session will provide healthcare attorneys with a practical framework for advising hospitals, health systems, physician groups, and other providers regarding the creation and management of Patient Safety Work Product. Through case studies and real-world examples, participants will learn how PSQIA protections interact with state peer review laws, accreditation requirements, regulatory reporting obligations, and medical staff processes. The session will also address common misconceptions that lead organizations to underutilize PSOs and will explore how a properly structured Patient Safety Evaluation System can support both organizational learning and legal risk management. Attendees will leave with practical tools for helping clients distinguish protected and non-protected information, evaluate disclosure obligations, and integrate patient safety activities into broader quality and compliance initiatives.
5:15 PM - 6:15 PM Networking Reception - Sponsored by Husch Blackwell
Join fellow attendees at our Networking Reception, made possible through the generous support of our Platinum Sponsor, Husch Blackwell.

Tuesday, October 6, 2026

7:30 AM - 8:00 AM
Tuesday Breakfast
8:00 AM - 8:45 AM
DOJ / AG Fraud Division Topic
9:45 AM - 10:15 AM
Tuesday Morning Refreshments
10:15 AM - 11:00 AM The Anti-Cover Up Hospital Ethics / Art of the Apology
Most hospitals say patient safety is the goal. But when serious harm occurs, the system often behaves as though silence is the safest legal option. In other words, preserve privilege, call the carrier, disclose as little as possible, and wait. This session proposes a different model, a hospital that hunts for preventable harm, tells patients and families what happened, apologizes when care fell short, fixes the system, and offers fair resolution before litigation forces the truth into the open. The presentation will examine how such a model could work in Texas without turning candor into chaos. Using de-identified examples from avoidable medical-negligence patterns, the session will walk through first-response triage, internal investigation, QAPI escalation, peer review, insurer coordination, patient-family communication, apology-law guardrails, and settlement authority. It will also address the emotional reality lawyers sometimes avoid, money alone rarely repairs the injury families feel after preventable harm. In a state where litigation may provide limited answers to grief, dignity, and trust, a truthful post-harm process can be a compliance tool as much as a moral one. Attendees will leave with a practical framework for advising hospitals, physicians, and healthcare organizations that want to be aggressive about accountability, not cover-up, while still protecting privilege, managing risk, and improving patient safety.
11:00 AM - 11:45 AM Private Equity Considerations in Clinical Setting
Distinction between clinical and non-clinical decisions and regulatory environment for private equity ownership
11:45 AM - 12:15 PM AI Panel - Operational focused
12:15 PM - 1:00 PM Texas Tort Claims Act / Sovereign Immunity
7:30 AM - 8:00 AM
Tuesday Breakfast
8:00 AM - 8:45 AM
DOJ / AG Fraud Division Topic
9:45 AM - 10:15 AM
Tuesday Morning Refreshments
10:15 AM - 11:00 AM The Anti-Cover Up Hospital Ethics / Art of the Apology
Most hospitals say patient safety is the goal. But when serious harm occurs, the system often behaves as though silence is the safest legal option. In other words, preserve privilege, call the carrier, disclose as little as possible, and wait. This session proposes a different model, a hospital that hunts for preventable harm, tells patients and families what happened, apologizes when care fell short, fixes the system, and offers fair resolution before litigation forces the truth into the open. The presentation will examine how such a model could work in Texas without turning candor into chaos. Using de-identified examples from avoidable medical-negligence patterns, the session will walk through first-response triage, internal investigation, QAPI escalation, peer review, insurer coordination, patient-family communication, apology-law guardrails, and settlement authority. It will also address the emotional reality lawyers sometimes avoid, money alone rarely repairs the injury families feel after preventable harm. In a state where litigation may provide limited answers to grief, dignity, and trust, a truthful post-harm process can be a compliance tool as much as a moral one. Attendees will leave with a practical framework for advising hospitals, physicians, and healthcare organizations that want to be aggressive about accountability, not cover-up, while still protecting privilege, managing risk, and improving patient safety.
11:00 AM - 11:45 AM Private Equity Considerations in Clinical Setting
Distinction between clinical and non-clinical decisions and regulatory environment for private equity ownership
11:45 AM - 12:15 PM AI Panel - Operational focused
12:15 PM - 1:00 PM Texas Tort Claims Act / Sovereign Immunity

7:30 AM - 8:00 AM
Tuesday Breakfast
8:00 AM - 8:45 AM
DOJ / AG Fraud Division Topic
9:45 AM - 10:15 AM
Tuesday Morning Refreshments
10:15 AM - 11:00 AM The Anti-Cover Up Hospital Ethics / Art of the Apology
Most hospitals say patient safety is the goal. But when serious harm occurs, the system often behaves as though silence is the safest legal option. In other words, preserve privilege, call the carrier, disclose as little as possible, and wait. This session proposes a different model, a hospital that hunts for preventable harm, tells patients and families what happened, apologizes when care fell short, fixes the system, and offers fair resolution before litigation forces the truth into the open. The presentation will examine how such a model could work in Texas without turning candor into chaos. Using de-identified examples from avoidable medical-negligence patterns, the session will walk through first-response triage, internal investigation, QAPI escalation, peer review, insurer coordination, patient-family communication, apology-law guardrails, and settlement authority. It will also address the emotional reality lawyers sometimes avoid, money alone rarely repairs the injury families feel after preventable harm. In a state where litigation may provide limited answers to grief, dignity, and trust, a truthful post-harm process can be a compliance tool as much as a moral one. Attendees will leave with a practical framework for advising hospitals, physicians, and healthcare organizations that want to be aggressive about accountability, not cover-up, while still protecting privilege, managing risk, and improving patient safety.
11:00 AM - 11:45 AM Private Equity Considerations in Clinical Setting
Distinction between clinical and non-clinical decisions and regulatory environment for private equity ownership
11:45 AM - 12:15 PM AI Panel - Operational focused
12:15 PM - 1:00 PM Texas Tort Claims Act / Sovereign Immunity

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