Legal Affairs Specialist

Salary Range: $82,165 - $119,140

Job Summary

This position is under the direction of the Senior Associate Counsel, is part of the Legal team and is in CenCal Health's Administrative Division. The Legal Department reports to the Government Affairs and Administrative Officer (GAO) on day-to-day policy matters. The GAO is under the general direction of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

The Legal Department may serve the Board of Directors of CenCal Health and the CEO directly on legal matters which require privilege. On such matters, the Legal Department may coordinate activities directly with the CEO.

This position often serves as a thorough and detailed liaison with State officials and representatives of the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), administrative and clinical staff to ensure the interests of CenCal Health and its Members are assured.

This position ensures the appropriate receipt and handling on various legal notices or documents, numerous legal and/or administrative filings, processing of CenCal Health required filings and works with internal staff as a resource for research.

Duties & Responsibilities

• May represent CenCal Health's and/or manage State Fair Hearing process, by liaising between State agencies and CenCal Health's Legal Department, Chief Medical Officer, Administration, and their respective staff, initiating and collecting background information on complaints, finalizing Position Statements, assembly of Exhibits and complete case files, filings, and communications with the State, including legal questions, technical system issues, scheduling problems, communications with beneficiaries and their counsel, document control, participates in interdepartmental discussions to research and collect clinical and member services information and timely service of final Position Statements on members.
• Ensures the proper handling, processing, and tracking of various administrative and legal documents both received and transmitted, such as, subpoenas requesting member billing records, Statement of Facts, Roster of Public Agencies (provides annual updates and filings with Secretary of State), Conflict of Interest Code (reviews and responds biennially, and provides amendments as needed, to Fair Political Practices Commission), Fictitious Business Name Statement (provides updates every 5 years and filings with Santa Barbara County Clerk), responsible for trademark filings for the organization, other regulatory filings as needed and contributes to the development of Legal policies and procedures.
• Conducts themselves in a professional and approachable manner internally to ensure Legal Department responsiveness, leads, trains and mentors Legal Coordinator (administrative assistant) on subpoenas, State Fair Hearings, regulatory filings, providing support to, and other duties as assigned, by the Senior Associate Counsel.
• Other duties as assigned.

Knowledge/Skills/Abilities

Required:

• Must possess a very high degree of attention to detail and ensure that all information transmitted or shared with external parties and internal associates is presented in a highly professional and extraordinarily accurate matter.
• Must have strong communication skills and be able to represent CenCal Health's interests in a variety of settings with internal and external parties. This may also be required during demanding situations such as presentations at State Fair Hearings, administrative law judges, outside or opposing counsel, state personnel or other administrative presentations.
• Formidable communication skills that, given the appropriate audience, can either be made in a highly technical and legal manner or framed appropriately for administrative and non-legal personnel. A skill that can be utilized to effectively articulate CenCal Health concerns to attorneys, administrative law judges and state personnel in a prudently diplomatic and clear manner.
• A high degree of organization and the ability to deal with dynamic priority settings that change based on organizational needs.
• Adherence to timelines, due dates and other delivery timetables established, either through external requirements or internal necessities.
• Strong computer skills required. Must be proficient in Word and basic Excel. Database experience a plus.

Preferred:

• Strong preference is provided to those who have experience in health care and/or regulatory setting; particularly experience with Medi-Cal and Medi-Cal State Fair hearings.

Education & Experience

• Possession of a Paralegal certificate issued by an ABA-approved program.
• Five (5) or more years' experience working as a paralegal in a law firm or equivalent work experience that included:
  • Experience in subpoenas
  • Experience dealing with regulatory agencies.
  • Excellent public relations, oral and written communication skills
  • Ability to analyze written documents and reports.
  • Flexibility to change priorities.
  • Extensive computer and word processing experience
  • Experience with internet legal research
  • Experience and education in legal document writing preferred.