VP of Litigation and Insurance

Boston Medical Center; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 334,000 - 400,000; Full time

Job summary

Boston Medical Center is seeking a strategic and experienced Vice President of Litigation & Insurance to guide enterprise litigation, insurance programs, and risk financing across the health system. This senior leader advises the General Counsel and executive team on exposure, strategy, and governance, aligning clinical, financial, and operational stakeholders to mitigate risk.

The role oversees healthcare and commercial litigation, medical malpractice, and the Health System's captive insurance

Responsibilities

• Develop and lead enterprise litigation strategy across healthcare and related areas.
• Provide executive oversight of investigations, subpoenas, discovery, and settlement strategy.
• Advise on litigation posture, exposure, and risk reduction with senior leadership.

Job description

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Vice President, Litigation & Insurance is the senior legal executive responsible for enterprise leadership of the Health System's litigation, claims, captive insurance, and commercial insurance programs. The Vice President serves as a principal advisor to the General Counsel, executive leadership, and governing bodies on significant litigation exposure, claims strategy, insurance coverage, risk financing, and emerging liability trends. The role establishes enterprise strategy and governance, ensures appropriate executive oversight of high-impact matters, and aligns legal, clinical, operational, and financial stakeholders around effective risk mitigation and resolution. The Vice President leads all healthcare and commercial litigation matters; oversees medical malpractice, employment, and other significant claims; manages the Health System's captive insurance company; and partners with Finance on the procurement, placement, administration, and optimization of the Health System's commercial insurance portfolio.

Position: VP of Litigation and Insurance

Department: Legal Affairs

Schedule: Full Time

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES / DUTIES:

Enterprise Litigation Strategy & Oversight

• Develop and lead the Health System's enterprise litigation strategy across healthcare, professional liability, employment, regulatory, managed care, medical staff, peer review, credentialing, commercial, contract, antitrust, class action, and other complex disputes.
• Provide executive oversight of significant investigations, subpoenas, discovery, settlement strategy, litigation avoidance, and matters with material financial, operational, reputational, or strategic impact.
• Advise the General Counsel and executive leaders on litigation posture, exposure, settlement authority, escalation, and resolution of high-risk matters; identify trends and opportunities to reduce recurring liability.

Professional Liability & Claims Oversight

• Provide executive leadership and oversight for the professional liability and claims function, including medical malpractice and significant employment-related claims, while ensuring appropriate delegation of day-to-day claims administration to designated claims leadership and staff.
• Oversee strategy for significant and catastrophic claims, including investigation, evaluation, defense, resolution, and escalation; establish expectations for timely, consistent, and well-documented claims management.
• Partner closely with the Chief Quality Officer and quality and patient safety team, clinical leadership, Human Resources, Finance, and other stakeholders to identify systemic issues, strengthen prevention strategies, and incorporate claims learnings into organizational improvement.
• Partner with Finance and actuarial resources on reserve reviews, loss trends, and material exposure, ensuring legal strategy and financial planning remain aligned.

Captive Insurance Company Leadership

• Serve as the lead staff executive for the Health System's captive insurance company and primary coordinator for captive governance, strategy, and executive decision support.
• Lead preparation for and coordination of captive governance activities, including regular captive meetings, monthly operating discussions, and bi-annual onshore risk education meetings; ensure decisions, accountabilities, and follow-up actions are clearly documented and advanced.
• Partner with Finance, actuarial advisors, brokers, external counsel, and other consultants on reserve adequacy, loss projections, funding requirements, reinsurance strategy, retention levels, and long-term risk financing.
• Lead enterprise evaluation of which insurance lines and exposures should be retained within the captive versus transferred through the commercial insurance market, balancing financial efficiency, risk tolerance, coverage availability, and organizational exposure.
• Oversee captive regulatory and governance requirements and provide executive reporting on financial performance, emerging exposures, and strategic recommendations.

Commercial Insurance Strategy

• Partner with Finance to establish and execute the enterprise commercial insurance strategy, including coverage design, procurement, placement, renewal, administration, and optimization of insurance programs.
• Provide legal and strategic oversight of brokers, carriers, underwriters, actuaries, consultants, and third-party administrators; ensure coverage decisions appropriately reflect enterprise risk profile and business priorities.
• Oversee legal strategy for significant claims submitted under commercial policies and resolve material coverage issues in partnership with Finance and external advisors.
• Advise on insurance implications of acquisitions, affiliations, physician transactions, joint ventures, construction, new service lines, and other strategic initiatives.

Outside Counsel & Legal Resource Management

• Establish and oversee an enterprise approach to selecting, retaining, and managing outside litigation counsel and specialized advisors.
• Set expectations for litigation strategy, matter management, budgets, staffing, fee arrangements, performance, and outcomes; ensure external resources are deployed effectively and consistently with organizational priorities.
• Monitor material legal spend and identify opportunities to improve value, consistency, and efficiency across the litigation portfolio.

Executive Leadership, Governance & Reporting

• Serve as a trusted advisor to the General Counsel, Executive Leadership Team, and other senior leaders on significant litigation, claims, captive, and insurance matters.
• Present to the System Board and relevant Board and management committees, including Audit and Compliance, Finance, and Captive governance bodies, on significant exposure, claims trends, reserve considerations, coverage strategy, renewals, and emerging liability risks.
• Develop clear executive dashboards, trend reporting, and decision materials that translate complex legal and insurance issues into actionable business recommendations.
• Partner with the enterprise risk management function to ensure material litigation and insurance risks are appropriately reflected in broader enterprise risk reporting and mitigation efforts.

Financial & Operational Accountability

• Provide executive oversight of litigation, claims, captive, and insurance-related budgets and financial performance, including defense costs, indemnity expenditures, reserves, premiums, and external advisory spend.
• Partner with Finance on annual planning, forecasting, reserve analysis, captive funding, insurance renewals, and long-range risk financing strategy.
• Establish meaningful performance indicators for the function, monitor outcomes and trends, and use data to drive continuous improvement, resource decisions, and risk-reduction priorities.
• Build and develop a high-performing team and operating model with clear accountability across litigation, claims, captive, and insurance responsibilities.

(The above statements in this job description are intended to depict the general nature and level of work assigned to the employee(s) in this job. The above is not intended to represent an exhaustive list of accountable duties and responsibilities required)

Compensation Range: $334,000-$400,000

Compensation Range:

$0.00- $0.00

This range offers an estimate based on the minimum job qualifications. However, our approach to determining base pay is comprehensive, and a broad range of factors is considered when making an offer. This includes education, experience, skills, and certifications/licensures as they directly relate to position requirements; as well as business/organizational needs, internal equity, and market-competitiveness. In addition, BMCHS offers generous total compensation that includes, but is not limited to, benefits (medical, dental, vision, pharmacy), discretionary annual bonuses and merit increases, Flexible Spending Accounts, 403(b) savings matches, paid time off, career advancement opportunities, and resources to support employee and family well-being.

NOTE: This range is based on Boston-area data, and is subject to modification based on geographic location.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Disabled/Veterans