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Overview

Kathleen is a strategic partner to clients. She provides holistic practical advice at the intersection of healthcare and technology. With a broad background in healthcare, digital health, AI, and tech transfer, Kathleen supports healthcare and life sciences clients’ IP licensing, commercial contracting, and regulatory needs.

With 20 years of experience in the healthcare field, Kathleen has an intrinsic understanding of the healthcare landscape, particularly as it applies to health information exchange and healthcare delivery, including managed care and value-based contracting. Her technology-focused transactional practice, coupled with her regulatory experience, gives her a unique perspective that allows her to provide holistic advice to clients.

Much of Kathleen’s current practice is focused on the digital health space, and she frequently represents health tech and med tech startups and works with AI in healthcare. She often serves as a one-stop shop for just about any legal need a digital health company might have—from regulatory questions to privacy matters to contracting concerns. Kathleen routinely negotiates significant milestone, business-changing contracts, licensing agreements, and partnership deals for clients, and she also supports IP, software, and tech transfer needs. In addition, Kathleen’s decade plus with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts ideally positions her to advise clients on healthcare regulatory requirements, and she understands the complexities of working with the government.

Kathleen is perhaps best known for her strategic view of clients’ businesses: she has a gift for helping clients identify and prioritize legal needs while considering the big picture of their overall business goals. Drawing on her niche skillset at the intersection of healthcare and technology, Kathleen provides truly strategic advice that helps clients of all sizes move their organizations forward.

Before joining Husch Blackwell, Kathleen was in the tech transfer group of a large international law firm where she spearheaded a digital health team and worked extensively with startups. Prior to that, she served as the Deputy General Counsel for IT at the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS). In this role, she was a strategic advisor to leadership, developing innovative solutions to complex healthcare and technology challenges.

As part of her role at EOHHS, Kathleen served as counsel for the Massachusetts Health Information Exchange. Previously in her career, Kathleen was a Medicaid managed care attorney and former member of the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Institutional Research Board in Boston, Massachusetts. 

Industries

Services

Education

  • Human Services and Leadership Management Certificate, Suffolk University, Moakley Center for Public Management
    • with honors
  • J.D., Suffolk University Law School
    • cum laude
  • LL.M., Lund University
    • with honors
    • European Law
  • B.A., Bates College

Admissions

  • Massachusetts

Professional Memberships and Certifications

  • American Health Lawyers Association
Experience
  • Draft and negotiate a wide variety of contracts, including license agreements, SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, data management, and large-scale system development contracts, term sheets, and strategic relationships. Representative strategic deals include:

    • Collaboration agreement between startup digital health platform company and large global pharmaceutical company;
    • Partnering agreement between startup digital health company and large health insurance company;
    • Co-development agreement between startup health tech company and large EHR company;
    • Partnering agreement between startup health tech company and large health tech company;
    • Co-promote between large generic pharma company and smaller pharma company.
  • Advise on regulatory requirements at the intersection of healthcare and technology, including matters involving information blocking and interoperability; managed care and value based care; AKS; corporate practice of medicine; telehealth licensing; reimbursement questions; CMS funding of technology related projects e.g., APDs; and NIH, SBIR, and STTR grant requirements.
  • Support investment, financing, and M&A activity from a healthcare regulatory, commercial contract, and IP perspective.
  • Support healthcare privacy and security workstreams, including negotiation of BAAs and management of high-profile Meta pixel data security incident.
  • Advise on Health Information Technology and Health Information Exchange (HIE) business and policy decisions.
Outside the Office

Kathleen loves spending time with her family, which includes two children on the cusp of their teen years and a mini Labradoodle named Maple. They all especially enjoy days at the beach and trips to Maine.

Community Leadership

Kathleen is extensively involved in the Massachusetts startup world and volunteers frequently as a mentor with Mass Challenge, a nonprofit accelerator. She also serves as an angel investor with Launchpad Venture Group—an activity that gives her a helpful perspective to offer clients on how investors view emerging companies.

Kathleen has also been recognized for her robust pro bono practice.

Government Experience

Executive Office of Health and Human Services, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 2006-2019

  • Deputy General Counsel Information Technology, 2015-2019
  • Counsel for the Massachusetts Health Information Exchange (the HIway), 2012-2019
  • Assistant General Counsel Information Technology Unit, 2009-2015
  • Assistant General Counsel Managed Care Unit, 2006-2009