• program offerings

Sarah as a Speaker: Sarah excels in leading innovative sessions in which participants share knowledge, experiences, and questions to derive insight into common problems in health care. With more than 25 years’ experience teaching health law in addition to her clinical background,Sarah can explain multiple components of our health care system, answer questions about the morass of laws in medicine and connect seemingly disparate factors that add to the problems participants face.

By supplying that context, she facilitates conversation in groups, from which participants leave with new clarity about old issues, ideas & tools from colleagues, and a refreshed view of how they can provide meaningful leadership for their practice or institution.

As a Keynote speaker, Sarah brings clarity to audiences of diverse backgrounds about our health care system- why it has changed over the years and how it is likely to serve all of us in the future.


Keynote Presentations

These Keynote presentations are appropriate for health care professionals and layperson audiences.

  • “Medicare for All” or “Market-Driven Health Care”: the politics of medicine and what the slogans really mean
  • Forty Years of Evolution: How American Health Care Got to Where it is Today*
  • Where are We Going? The Future of American Health Care
  • Population Health is a Team Sport- What Will it Mean for You?
  • How to be a Great (and healthier) Patient

*I started this with an article for Texas Medical Liability Trust’s 40th Anniversary- as a keynote, I can expand/reduce its scope to reflect the sponsoring organization’s tenure.


Facilitated Conversations for Health Care Professionals:

“Through conversation, smart people can pick up the pieces of tomorrow’s solution”
(Sarah Freymann Fontenot)

A. The “Why” of Leadership in Health Care

The need for leadership in all sectors of the health care system is well known. Excellent coursework, intervention, and tools are in place to build the leaders for tomorrow. But do those new leaders understand their future battlefield? Do they recognize the myriad of forces changing the delivery of care continuingly? This program defines the context of the current legal framework of health care and provides an opportunity to take a broader view of the forces that generated those laws. Participants are left with a better understanding of today’s issues- but more importantly- a clearer vision of the future of the American health care system.

B. Hottest Topics in Health Care

This program is a broad discussion about health care law & policy, and the direction the federal government is steering medical care. Sarah provides content on five to fifteen (depending on time) of today’s issues in health law, then has the participants guide the order and length of conversations through their questions and level of interest. By the end of the session, the participants have more knowledge on current challenges in health care, greater clarity on how they fit into the health care structure of tomorrow, and increased appreciation for the importance of their leadership among their colleagues.

C. Topic Driven Seminars

Still presented in a “Facilitated Conversation” format, these programs provide ample interaction and problem-solving among participants but focus more exclusively on an issue commonly perplexing hospital systems & physician practices. Options include:

  • Value-Based Purchasing & MACRA: The Continuing Evolution of Reimbursement Reform
  • Electronic Medical Records: Possibilities and Pitfalls
  • Expanding the Workforce: Top of License Practice and Facilitating Teamwork Between Professionals

Traditional Seminar Programs for Health Care Professionals

For a shorter time-frame or a more conventional educational program, Sarah offers several seminars that include lecture, case examples, an opportunity for questions & answers, and discussion. Although traditional in format, Sarah places priority on conducting programs that are clear, practical and engaging. (For evidence, please see testimonials from prior clients on her website under “Applause”)

Options Include:

  1. Medical Ethics: What’s Happening on the Hill? (1 hour to 4-hour format)
  2. EHRs: Possibilities & Pitfalls (1 hour to 4-hour format)
  3. How You- the Physician- Fits in the Changing World of Reimbursement Reform (1 hour to 2-hour format)
  4. Expanding the Healthcare Workforce: Building Teamwork with Advanced Practice Professionals & Physicians (1 hour to 2-hour format) (Texas only)