Paralegal

ST. CHARLES HEALTH SYSTEM

JOB DESCRIPTION

TITLE:                                      Paralegal         

REPORTS TO POSITION:      Director of Legal Affairs

DEPARTMENT:                        Legal Department         

DATE LAST REVIEWED:         July 30, 2025

OUR VISION:                Creating America’s healthiest community, together

OUR MISSION:             In the spirit of love and compassion, better health, better care, better value

OUR VALUES:              Accountability, Caring and Teamwork

DEPARTMENTAL SUMMARY: The Legal Department provides internal legal advice to the health system concerning operational, administrative, employment, business, litigation, and other matters related to the lawful conduct of the health system’s business. The department responds to questions about legal rights and responsibilities; counsels on health-related statutes and regulations, including the Stark Law, False Claims Act, Anti-Kickback Statute, HIPAA, EMTALA; provides general corporate governance counsel per the Oregon Nonprofit Corporation Act and IRS nonprofit and tax-exempt regulations; manages claims and lawsuits filed against the health system and its caregivers; provides proactive advice and counsel to caregivers and leaders in a preventive capacity; provides other services to mitigate the legal risk faced by the health system; and conducts legal review of contracts and contract drafting for health system transactional needs.  . 

JOB SUMMARY:  Under the supervision of attorneys in the Legal Department, this position provides contract administration for St. Charles Health System internal customers and interacts extensively with external contracting parties.  This position also provides a variety of other paralegal services for Legal Department personnel and St. Charles Health System caregivers as needed. These services include, but are not limited to: preparing drafts of contracts and legal documents, correspondence and filings; tracking legal notices and facilitating the health system’s response to subpoena’s, discovery and other legal process; and general file management, coordinating litigation and legal calendars, scheduling depositions and corresponding with internal and external parties; conducting legal research; preparing and filing government registrations and performing special projects. This position will work collaboratively with support staff, management and executives throughout the St. Charles Health System.

This position will not manage caregivers.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS AND DUTIES:

Serve as primary reviewer of certain incoming contracts, collaborating with St. Charles Health System Legal Department counsel to prioritize, categorize, and organize the work of counsel in the contract review process.

Assist counsel, as directed, to ensure that contracts are prepared, executed, maintained and renewed in compliance with the St. Charles Health System contract policies.

Coordinate the collection of information required for contract negotiation and drafting.

Design and maintain contracts database for St. Charles Health System that tracks process flows, legal review turnaround time, indexes significant contracts, and provides automated notifications of upcoming contract expirations.

Play a key role in developing and maintaining processes and software for contract screening, tracking and storage, educating caregivers as necessary in its use.

Educate, as necessary, caregivers throughout health system on contracts administration, key terms, contract processes and coordination.

In conjunction with St. Charles Health System Provider Compensation Team as directed by Director of Legal Affairs, assists in managing, reviewing and storing provider contracts, St. Charles Health System Medical Director and other provider-oriented agreements, and payments.

Serve as resource to caregivers and managers for information regarding contracts and other legal issues managed by Legal Department personnel.

Manage the health system's subpoenas and legal notices by facilitating service at a convenient time and place for witnesses, minimizing disruption and avoiding unnecessary contact with process servers. Work closely with legal counsel to assess the validity of each subpoena, ensuring compliance with legal requirements. Collaborate with the Health Information Management team when medical records are requested, coordinating the appropriate response. Additionally, liaise with the issuing party to secure dates and times for witnesses to appear that are least disruptive to their schedules and the overall patient care environment.

Field telephone calls from the legal inquiry phone line, and actively listening to voicemail messages, and promptly informing counsel about inquiries from caregivers seeking legal assistance.

Provide paralegal support for the Director of Legal Affairs and others in the Legal Department as assigned.

Properly maintains all records and legal files.

Offer Notary Public services.

Performs special projects, such as due diligence during real estate and business transactions, complex project management, database construction, designing educational materials for presentation by counsel, and other complex issues that arise from time to time as needed by counsel and directed by the Director of Legal Affairs.

Assist in litigation and claims management. Facilitates St. Charles Health System’s response to malpractice, employment and other claims by regulatory agencies, by assisting with the scheduling of depositions, marshalling documents needed to respond to discovery requests, and remaining in communication with the system’s third-party administrators and attorneys.

Monitor and provide regular status reports on the health system’s claims activity and the expenses and costs associated with such activity.

Set priorities and organize project workload effectively.

Supports the vision, mission and values of the organization in all respects.

Supports Lean principles of continuous improvement with energy and enthusiasm, functioning as a champion of change.

Provides and maintains a safe environment for caregivers, patients and guests.

Conduct all activities with the highest standards of professionalism and confidentiality.  Complies with all applicable laws, regulations, policies and procedures, supporting the organization’s corporate integrity efforts by acting in an ethical and appropriate manner, reporting known or suspected violation of applicable rules, and cooperating fully with all organizational investigations and proceedings.

May perform additional duties of similar complexity within the organization, as required or assigned.

EDUCATION              

Required:  Bachelor’s Degree and completion of an accredited paralegal training program required; equivalent experience (as assessed by the Director of Legal Affairs), may be substituted for degree.

LICENSURE/CERTIFICATION/REGISTRATION

Required:  Paralegal certification; or, in the alternative, such experience as is described in the “Experience” section, below.

Preferred:  N/A

EXPERIENCE

Required:  One or more years’ paralegal experience in corporate or healthcare law or equivalent experience in a private or healthcare law practice setting.  Absent said experience, a work plan and proposal for education and to gain knowledge in such areas of practice.  Word processing and legal file management skills that are commensurate with the document production and file management skills of a paralegal with at least one year of experience in a business practice.

Strong project management skills, ability to observe process inefficiencies and design improvements, desire to “own” processes and process improvements that improve the timely, efficient, and accurate provision of legal services to St. Charles Health System clients.

Ability to work independently with minimum direction; strong communication, organization, and writing skills.  High level of computer aptitude. Must be proficient in Word and Excel and database creation and management, preferably having managed voluminous contracts in a corporate setting; skillful in Internet, and other on-line information services and retrieval. Must know and have working experience in Outlook. A willingness to commit to the mission and core values of St. Charles Health System.  Ability to work with others and to work in a team approach for specified projects.  

Preferred:  N/A

PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT

Must be able to wear appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) required to perform the job safely.

ADDITIONAL POSITION INFORMATION:

General:

Communication/Interpersonal

Must have excellent communication skills and ability to interact with a diverse population and professionally represent SCHS. 

Ability to effectively interact and communicate with all levels within SCHS and external customers/clients/potential employees

Strong team working and collaborative skills

Ability to effectively reach consensus with a diverse population with differing needs

Ability to manage facilitation and consensus building among health care professionals and agencies and achieve expected results

Ability to work under pressure in a fast-paced environment

Organizational

Ability to multi-task and work independently 

Attention to detail

Excellent organizational skills, written and oral communication and customer service skills, particularly in dealing with stressful personal interactions

Strong analytical, problem solving and decision-making skills

Excellent organizational and multi-tasking skills

Computer

Intermediate to advanced proficiency in Microsoft applications (Outlook, Teams, Word) and Adobe Acrobat

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

Continually (75% or more): Ability to communicate effectively.

Frequently (50%): Sitting, standing, walking, lifting 1-10 pounds, keyboard operation.

Occasionally (25%): Bending, climbing stairs, reaching overhead, carrying/pushing or pulling 1-10 pounds, grasping/squeezing.

Rarely (10%):  Stooping/kneeling/crouching, lifting, carrying, pushing or pulling 11-15 pounds, operation of a motor vehicle.

Never (0%):  Climbing ladder/step-stool, lifting/carrying/pushing or pulling 25-50 pounds.

Exposure to Elemental Factors

Never (0%):  Heat, cold, wet/slippery area, noise, dust, vibration, chemical solution, uneven surface.

Blood-Borne Pathogen (BBP) Exposure Category:

No Risk for Exposure to BBP

Schedule Weekly Hours:

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