Shareholder
Health Care, Co-Chair
Health Care Litigation and Risk Management, Chair
Litigation
Captive Insurance

Lancaster
717.399.6639
610.236.4181 fax
jws@stevenslee.com

Jim, Chair of the Health Care Litigation and Risk Management Group and Co-Chair of the Health Care Department has sustained an active litigation practice for nearly 30 years. He regularly represents hospitals, physicians and other health care professionals before state and federal courts in complex litigation matters. Jim has tried to verdict over 50 trials. He oversees claims in over 30 states. He also counsels clients on medical staff matters and health care captive insurance issues.

Using his extensive experience as a litigator, Jim:

• Advises hospitals, medical groups and retirement communities throughout the United States on understanding and reducing their professional liability risk
• Develops risk reduction strategies for health care providers and organizations. This include the creation of complete customized loss control programs in high risk areas, event management systems for self-insured organizations and captive insurance groups
• Creates innovative techniques and educational tools to support implemented risk reduction programs
• Helps create captive insurance programs in multiple locations around the country that are both specialty-specific and national in scope

Jim is an invited speaker across the country on health care issues, including liability reduction and risk management, and presents to nationally prominent health care organizations such as the American Association of Clinical Urologists, the American College of General Surgeons, the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, American Health Lawyers Association and the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management. Also, he has published more than 200 articles, several handbooks and seven textbooks.

Jim is a fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, reserved for less than one-half of 1% of the lawyers in the country, a Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the oldest professional medical organization in the country, and is on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee for the Surgical Review Corporation, as well as a Board of Directors member of Surgical Excellence, LLC, a company with physicians from all over the country focused on safety and quality assurance.

Education:
Duquesne Law School, J.D., 1982
Shippensburg State College, B.A., 1979

Bar Admissions:
Pennsylvania

Court Admissions:
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania

Representative Publications:

• Understanding Bariatric Risk – A Legal, Clinical and Customer Service Focus. Co-authored with Maggie M. Finkelstein, Esq. and Susan Gallagher Camden, RN, MSN, PhD. Consultant’s Corner, Bariatric Times. June 2009.

• Enhanced Post-Event Communication Provides an Opportunity to Improve Patient Safety While Reducing Liability Risk. Co-authored with Maggie M. Finkelstein, Esq. and Doug Wojcieszak. Florida Quality News. June 2009.

• Informed Consent as a Patient Accountability Tool. Co-authored with Maggie M. Finkelstein, Esq. M.D. News, Volume 4, No. 3. June 2009.

• What If a Patient Refuses Recommended Medical Treatment and/or Testing? Co-authored with Maggie M. Finkelstein, Esq. M.D. News, Volume 4, No. 2, April 2009.

• Using Risk Management Strategies to Increase Patient Compliance, M.D. News. South Carolina Edition, Volume 4, No. 1. March 2009.

• Data-Driven Risk Management Assessment Process, Co-authored with Maggie M. Finkelstein, Esq. M.D. News, Volume 3, No. 2. December 2008.

• "Informed Consent," Chapter 26, Weight Loss Surgery: A Multidisciplinary Approach, Contributing Author, Matrix Medical Communications, 2008.

• "Ethics Training Needs to Emphasize Disclosure and Apology," HEC Forum, Vol. 20, No. 3, SpringerLink, September 2008. Co-authored with Maggie M. Finkelstein, Esq. and Doug Wojcieszak, Founder of the Sorry Works! Coalition.

• "Reduce Liability Risk by Improving Your Patient Satisfaction"
  Press Ganey, July 2008. Co-authored with Maggie M. Finkelstein.
• Contributing Author, Sorry Works!, Disclosure, Apology and Relationships Prevent Medical Malpractice Claims. AuthorHouse, 2007.
• Contributing Author, Minimizing Endoscopic Complications: Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Clinics of North America, January 2007, Volume 17, Number 1, W.B. Saunders Company, A Division of Elsevier, Inc.
• "Can Adhesive Labels Prevent Wrong Site Surgery and Reduce Liability Risk?" Widener Law Review, Vol. 12:293.
• "Best Practices: Reducing Liability Risks for Nursing Homes - Changing the Liabilty Equation." LTC Advisor, a publication of the American Health Lawyers Association Long-Term Care Practice Group, February 2006. Co-authored with Maggie M. Finkelstein.
• Five-Star Customer Service: A Step-by-Step Guide for Physician Practices. HCPro, Inc. Co-authored with Maggie M. Finkelstein.
• 15 Policies and Procedures to Reduce Liability for Physician Practices. HCPro, Inc. Co-authored with Maggie M. Finkelstein and Patricia M. Kearney.
• The Satisfied Patient: A Guide to Preventing Malpractice Claims by Providing Excellent Customer Service. HCPro, Inc.
• Bariatric Surgery: A Comprehensive Bariatric Program Can Act to Reduce Liability Risks and to Promote Patient Safety. Co-authored with Maggie M. Finkelstein.
• The New Universal Protocol: Can Adhesive Labels Prevent Wrong Site Surgery and Reduce Liability Risks? Co-authored with
  Maggie M. Finkelstein.

Professional Associations and Civic Affiliations:
Surgical Review Corporation, Board Member, Executive Committee
Surgical Excellence, LLC, Board of Directors
College of Physicians of Philadelphia, Fellow
Lancaster Bar Association, Professionalism Section
Pennsylvania Bar Association, Civil Litigation Law Section
American Bar Association
American Health Lawyers Association, Practice Guide on Alternative Risk Financing, Co-Editor; Healthcare Liability and Litigation Practice Group, Past Chair
Defense Research Institute, Medical Liability and Health Care Law Committee
Hospital Association of Pennsylvania, Society of Healthcare Attorneys
American Society of Law & Medicine
W. Hensel Brown Inn of Court, Master Designation; also Past President
Pennsylvania Medical Directors Association
Lancaster Community Health Plan, Founding Board Member
Lancaster Family YMCA, Foundation Chairman, 2004 Volunteer of the Year