Leading health law to excellence through education, information, and dialogue, the American Health Lawyers Association (AHLA) is the nation’s largest, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) educational organization devoted to legal issues in the health care field with nearly 14,000 members.
Our Mission
The mission of the American Health Lawyers Association is to provide a collegial forum for interaction and information exchange to enable its members to serve their clients more effectively; to produce the highest quality non-partisan educational programs, products, and services concerning health law issues; and to serve as a public resource on selected healthcare legal issues.
AHLA provides resources to address the issues facing its active members who practice in law firms, government, in-house settings and academia and who represent the entire spectrum of the health industry: physicians, hospitals and health systems, health maintenance organizations, health insurers, life sciences, managed care companies, nursing facilities, home care providers, and consumers.
Our Members
AHLA’s membership is diverse not only in background but in their practice areas and settings. Nearly 13,000 members strong, the membership of Health Lawyers includes in-house counsel, compliance and privacy officers, finance officers, health care consultants, regulatory professionals, those employed in health care, public health, government, and academia. Learn more about the benefits of membership in AHLA by visiting the Membership page.
What is Health Law?
Health Law is the body of federal, state, and local laws, rules, regulations and cases that governs the health care industry, including the delivery of all health related services to patients by all of its individual and institutional participants. The health care industry is very heavily regulated, and all of its activities and operations are subject to numerous, complex state and federal rules. Health lawyers have in-depth knowledge and experience working in this regulatory framework, and provide advice to hospitals, physician organizations, long term care facilities, home health agencies, health insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, as well as to physicians and other individual health care providers on how to comply with these rules. The practice of health law can focus on a number of different areas, the most significant of which include:
- Antitrust
- Dispute Resolution
- Fraud and Abuse
- Governance
- Government Reimbursement
- Health Care Delivery Models
- Health Care Finance and Transactions
- Health Information
- Health Insurance
- Health Policy and Administration
- Labor and Employment
- Life Sciences
- Long Term Care
- Medical Staff, Credentialing, and Peer Review
- Patient Care Liability and Litigation
- Tax and Nonprofit
Our Governance
AHLA is governed by a Board of 28 members. The
Board of Directors meets twice a year in person. The Board also meets several times a year by phone conference. Board members serve on the following Committees: Nominating, Public Interest, Membership, Finance, Programs, Practice Groups, Professional Resources, and Mentoring, in addition to several Councils (Diversity; Dispute Resolution; Young Professionals) and other groups. An Executive Committee composed of 10 members meets 4-6 times a year in person and by telephone conference. For more information, visit our
Governance & Leadership Page.
Our Commitment to Diversity+Inclusion
In principle and in practice, the American Health Lawyers Association values and seeks to advance and promote diverse and inclusive participation within the Association regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, age, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, national origin, or disability. Guided by these values, the Association strongly encourages and embraces participation of diverse individuals as it leads health law to excellence through education, information, and dialogue. For more information, visit our
Diversity Page.Our History
On July 1, 1997, the National Health Lawyers Association (NHLA) and the American Academy of Healthcare Attorneys (AAHA) combined into a single organization, creating the nation's largest educational organization devoted to legal issues in the health industry. Learn More about our history.
