Patricia M. Wagner

Trish Wagner counsels health care and life sciences clients in two of the most complex areas affecting their business: privacy regulations and antitrust issues. A scientist as well as a lawyer, she brings a deep understanding of health care to developing creative, pragmatic strategies to minimize risk.

Trish's privacy clients count on her to guide them through the labyrinth of HIPAA and other privacy laws and regulations that protect patient and consumer information. In addition to traditional health care clients, she excels at working with innovative wellness companies that may be new to health industry privacy laws. She oversees contract terms with payors and vendors, and helps create compliance systems that address diverse state, national, and international privacy regulations. And, in the event of a data breach, she assists in investigations and notifications as well as government and private litigation.

As the health care industry continues to consolidate, Trish helps hospitals and other integrated nonprofit health systems navigate competition issues and secure antitrust clearances from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the U.S. Department of Justice, and state antitrust authorities. Her understanding of the relationships among providers, payors, and contractors enables her to argue persuasively about the competitive impact of a particular business combination. And to keep her clients up to date on important antitrust counseling and defense issues, Trish coauthors Antitrust Byte client alerts on a biweekly basis.

Before becoming a lawyer, Trish received a doctorate in microbiology and worked as a research microbiologist at institutions, including the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia. She credits her scientific training with allowing her to efficiently analyze complex information and construct a plan of action.