Missouri In House Counsel Legal news, updates and analysis
Mosaic Health System
“More than an attorney, Sara Juarez is a proactive advocate for a better health community.” This statement from the award nomination for Juarez reflects the broad scope of responsibilities she handles as well as the professional successes she has enjoyed during her seven years with Mosaic Health System.
With a team of nine reporting directly to her, Juarez handles litigation defense and manages the entire insurance portfolio for the Mosaic Health System. This is the largest sole provider system in northwest Missouri with hospitals in St. Joseph, Albany and Maryville plus numerous clinics in those areas. She initiated and also chairs the diversity and inclusion program for the entire system.
One of her most challenging responsibilities is handling risk on-call duty once every four weeks. “While I’m on call, I’m available 24-7 for legal or risk issues that arise,” Juarez says. “I might get a phone call from the ER or law enforcement. Issues might relate to blood draws, mental health, transfer, threats, weapons or anything else. On a daily basis, I also help handle risk calls from throughout our system and manage the grievance call line team in handling calls that come in from patients and their family members.”
Juarez made the transition to her in-house career after 10 years in criminal law. “That is an unusual transition for an attorney,” she says. “I was really close to burnout when a former colleague reached out to me about joining the new internal legal team they were building at Mosaic. He knew I had the experience in the courtroom and with law enforcement, and he gave me the opportunity to learn everything else I needed to know. He’s still my boss and mentor.”
In 2022, Juarez worked to add a contracts team to her existing legal team. “We are revamping our entire contracts process,” she says. “We are negotiating an electronic medical records contract, which is probably one of our hospital’s largest contracts ever.”
Juarez earned her JD from the University of Kansas. She also holds a master’s degree in international relations and affairs from the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. She previously worked as an attorney with Legal Aid of Western Missouri for four years and as assistant city prosecutor for the City of Kansas City, Missouri, for four years.
One of her favorite moments as an attorney came when she was on call for Mosaic one weekend. “Our ER staff asked for my advice, and law enforcement didn’t agree with that,” Juarez says. “They tried to file charges against me for obstruction, but the charge was declined. Never in a million years did I think that I would every have to face something like that while working in-house for a hospital.”
