On July 1, 1997, the National Health Lawyers Association (NHLA) and the American Academy of Healthcare Attorneys (AAHA) combined into a single organization, creating the nation's largest educational organization devoted to legal issues in the health industry. The new entity was known as "NHLA/AAHA."
The National Health Lawyers Association (NHLA) was a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization and was founded in 1971. It was an individual membership organization with 8,500 members and provided educational programs and publications about legal issues in healthcare. The members were primarily health attorneys who represented and counseled hospitals and hospital systems, physicians, managed care organizations, insurers, long term care facilities, home health agencies,and other healthcare entities on business, corporate and regulatory matters. Approximately 1,000 members were non-attorneys, including physicians, accountants,and healthcare executives.
The American Academy of Healthcare Attorneys (AAHA) was founded in 1968 as a personal membership group of the American Hospital Association to serve the needs of attorneys representing hospitals and health systems. Also an individual membership organization, AAHA was comprised of 3,300 attorneys, approximately one-third of whom were in-house counsel.
To read a detailed history of the American Health Lawyers Association and its predecessors, click here.