Profile
Vickie B. Ahlers represents health care clients in matters involving state and federal health care regulation, contracting issues, HIPAA, medical staff issues, and risk management. Vickie also focuses her practice on data privacy and governance for businesses across all industry sectors. She counsels clients of all sizes, ranging from small critical access hospitals to Fortune 20 companies on data management, contracting, and governance. She has handled hundreds of data breach analyses and response efforts from initial incident response to regulatory enforcement defense.
Vickie is the Chair of the Firm’s Health Care section and leads the firm’s Privacy & Data Protection group. She has spoken to numerous industry groups such as the American Hospital Association and the Health Care Compliance Association on the topic of privacy and security for healthcare providers, insurers and employers. She has been listed in the top band of Chambers USA, America’s Leading Lawyers for Business (© 2013). Since 2007, Vickie has been selected by her peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® in the field of Health Care Law and was named Best Lawyers’ Omaha Healthcare Lawyer of the Year for 2013, 2020 and 2024.
Areas of Practice
Education
- Southern Illinois University School of Law, J.D., 1998
- University of Nebraska at Kearney, B.A., English, 1994
Professional & Civic Affiliations
- Nebraska Organ and Tissue Donor Coalition Board of Directors, Past Chairperson
- American Health Lawyers Association, Health Information Technology Leadership Committee Practice Group, Past Member
- Nebraska Chapter of Healthcare Financial Management Association, Member and Past President
- Iowa Society of Healthcare Attorneys, Member and Past President
- Latino Center of the Midlands Board of Directors, Past President
- Served on the Nebraska Aids Project Board of Directors
- Leadership Omaha (Class 26)
- Wellness Council of the Midlands Board of Directors, Past President
Bar & Court Admissions
- Iowa, 2005
- Nebraska, 1998
- Wisconsin, 2019
Selected Practice Highlights
- Representing Fortune 20 company and numerous other clients in Office for Civil Rights investigations following data breach
- Assisting client through a HIPAA Performance Audit in the pilot phase of Performance Audits conducted by KPMG on behalf of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR)
- Developing compliant policies and processes for privacy and security and training and consultation for workforce and Medical Staff on HIPAA compliance
- Assisting large national health care providers and employers through multi-state breach notification under various state laws
- Representing clients in developing medical staff bylaws, rules and regulations and policies
- Successfully obtaining FDA 510(k) clearance on behalf of client for three medical devices
- Advising clients with respect to physician recruitment and employment and other hospital-physician relationship issues
- Co-authoring four compliance manuals for health care providers and health plans on compliance with HIPAA and HITECH
Recent Speaking Engagements
- “Intersection of Public Health and Healthcare: Healthcare Data and the Law in the 21st Century. Part 1: Collecting Data: Electronic Health Records and the Law.” Co-sponsored by the CDC’s Public Health Law Program and the American Health Lawyers Association, June 21, 2017
- “Managing the Data Breach,” Creighton University School of Law, March 13, 2017
- “The Escalating Impact of HIPAA,” Iowa Hospital Association, October 18, 2016
- “A Tale of Snooping: Lessons Learned the Hard Way,” Nebraska Rural Health Association, September 21, 2016
- “Managing the Data Breach,” Creighton University School of Law, February 29, 2016
- “Managing the Data Breach,” Creighton University School of Law, February 23, 2015
- “The Need for CAH-tion for Critical Access Hospitals and Rural Health Clinics” (with Barbara E. Person), Nebraska Hospital Association Mid-Year Meeting, May 22, 2014
- “Legal Implications of a Breach in the Cloud” (with James E. O’Connor), Infotec 2014, April 14, 2014
- “The Next Decade of HIPAA: Understanding and Implementing the Omnibus Final Rule,” NAHAM Spring Conference, April 3, 2014
- “Supervision of Outpatient Therapeutic Services,” Nebraska Hospital Association Webinar, February 13, 2014
- “HIPAA Beginning Steps & Common Misperceptions” (with Michael W. Chase), LeadingAge Webinar Compliance Series, February 12, 2014
- “Scary situations: Protecting Your Hospital From Violent Patients, Employees or Visitors” (with Heidi Guttau-Fox), Iowa Hospital Association Annual Meeting, October 9, 2013
- “HIPAA Performance Audits: Inside Perspective,” The Healthcare Roundtable for General Counsel, September 9, 2013
- “Using Hospital Data in the Next Decade of HIPAA,” MidAmerican Information Summit, Iowa Hospital Association, September 5, 2013
- “Scary Situations Protecting Your Hospital from Violent Patients, Employees, or Visitors,” (with Heidi Guttau-Fox), Nebraska Hospital Association Mid-Year Meeting, May 23, 2013
- “The Next Decade of HIPAA: Understanding and Implementing the Omnibus Final Rule,” Nebraska HIMSS Spring Meeting, May 21, 2013
- “The Next Decade of HIPAA: Understanding and Implementing the Omnibus Final Rule,” ISHA Spring Conference, May 14, 2013
- “The Next Decade of HIPAA: Omnibus Final Rule and Enforcement”, IMGMA Spring Conference, May 9, 2013
- “Managing the Data Breach,” Creighton University School of Law, May 4, 2013
- “iNeed my Device – Issues and Challenges Facing Health Care Providers in Today’s Mobile World,” co-presented with James E. O’Connor, Baird Holm Health Law Forum, November 16, 2012
- “Data Risk and Crisis Management: Are You Prepared?” co-presented with James E. O’Connor, Baird Holm CLE Program, September 19, 2012
- “Data Risk and Crisis Management: Are You Prepared?” co-presented with James E. O’Connor, Baird Holm ACC Presentation, February 8, 2012
- “Medicare and Medicaid Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) Program,” Nebraska Rural Health Association Rural Health Clinic Billing & Coding Workshop, September 21, 2011
- “Breach Notification from the Inside – Lessons Learned,” Iowa Society of Healthcare Attorneys Health Law Conference, May 17, 2011
- “HITECH Impact on Business Associate Relationships,” Iowa Medical Group Management Spring Conference, May 13, 2011
- “Breach Notification From The Inside – Lessons Learned,” The Healthcare Roundtable for General Counsel, March 15, 2011
- “Alphabet Soup: Deciphering RACs, MICs and ZPICs,” Iowa Hospital Association, October 7, 2010