Gayland O. Hethcoat II

Counsel

Gayland advises health care providers, digital health platforms, and consumer health and wellness companies at the forefront of longevity, health AI, and innovation on privacy, compliance, and transactional matters.

Gayland Hethcoat Portrait

Gayland serves as a strategic legal partner to providers and stakeholders across the health care spectrum, including hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, physician practices, clinical laboratories, telehealth providers, digital therapeutics companies, and data-driven and AI-enabled health technology firms. He is particularly known for advising clients operating at the intersection of regulated health care delivery, consumer health and wellness, and technological innovation, where traditional health care laws increasingly overlap with consumer protection, data privacy, and advertising regimes.

Longevity & Health Innovation Focus

Gayland has developed a focused practice supporting companies in the rapidly evolving longevity and healthspan spaces, where patients and consumers are deploying proactive and preventive health and wellness strategies to optimize long-term health outcomes. He is frequently sought to advise on complex and cutting-edge legal and regulatory issues involving telemedicine, remote monitoring, virtual care management, AI-enabled clinical and wellness tools, diagnostics and testing platforms, and wearable technologies.

Regulatory Strategy

Gayland regularly counsels companies on health information privacy and security laws, including HIPAA, 42 C.F.R. Part 2 substance use confidentiality regulations, the FTC Health Breach Notification Rule, and state consumer health data privacy laws. He also advises on the 21st Century Cures Act and other legal frameworks governing interoperability and the exchange of electronic health information.

Additionally, Gayland’s regulatory work spans corporate practice of medicine considerations, professional and facility licensure, human subjects research, health care fraud and abuse laws, and reimbursement-related issues affecting innovative care delivery models.

Gayland is a trusted advisor to senior privacy and compliance officers and supports them in administering compliance programs, including internal investigations, audits, and risk assessments. He has provided representation in enforcement actions and investigations conducted by the US Department of Justice; US Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights, Office of Inspector General, and Health Resources & Services Administration; the California Departments of Health Care Access and Information, Health Care Services, and Public Health; and other federal and state agencies.

Transactions

In addition to regulatory counseling, Gayland maintains a robust health care transactional practice. He drafts and negotiates a wide range of agreements, including professional services agreements, management services arrangements, data use and data sharing agreements, research and collaboration agreements, and SaaS and other technology agreements. He is a key member of deal teams, regularly supporting due diligence in mergers, acquisitions, and other strategic transactions involving health care and health technology businesses.

Client Work

Gayland’s recent representative matters include advising:

  • A telehealth company offering GLP-1 medications and bioidentical hormone therapy on multistate telehealth licensure, nurse practitioner scope of practice, and federal controlled substance compliance
  • A pediatric behavioral health telehealth provider on streamlining HIPAA-compliant consent and privacy workflows within its patient registration process
  • The US subsidiary of a multinational energy company on privacy and regulatory risks associated with an employer-sponsored wellness program involving health data tracking technology and telehealth services delivered by non-US clinicians
  • A leading international e-commerce platform on FTC, FDA, privacy, and health care regulatory issues arising from the integration of consumer health product sales, physician influencer content, and affiliated telehealth services
  • A health care-focused private equity firm in connection with its acquisition of a virtual cardiometabolic care management platform
  • A reproductive health services provider on HIPAA and FTC Act compliance related to third-party pixels and tracking technologies
  • A metabolomics testing company on regulatory and privacy strategy, including CLIA certification, state laboratory licensure, direct-access testing considerations, and consumer-facing disclosures
  • A biomedical company operating a decentralized research network on structuring and negotiating research collaborations involving commercialization of biospecimens and associated research data
  • Concierge medical practices on Medicare opt-out requirements and membership-based care models structured to avoid state insurance regulation
  • A management services organization in structuring a compliant “friendly PC” model to support telehealth services for school-based populations
  • A digital physical therapy platform in drafting terms of use and privacy policies for a patient-facing therapeutic application

Previous Work

Before joining ArentFox Schiff, Gayland served as Senior Legal Counsel and Director of Compliance at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, a leading pediatric academic medical center affiliated with the Keck School of Medicine of USC. He previously held in-house legal roles at Dignity Health and CommonSpirit Health, one of the nation’s largest nonprofit health systems. This experience gives him a pragmatic, operator-level understanding of how health care organizations assess risk and operationalize compliance in real-world settings.

Professional Activities

Gayland is an active member of the American Health Law Association, California Society for Healthcare Attorneys, and the Health Care Compliance Association. He previously participated in California Privacy Rights Act rulemaking efforts through the California Lawyers Association.

Publications, Presentations & Recognitions

Gayland regularly speaks and writes on various health law topics. His presentations and publications include:

  • Webinar: Private Equity in Healthcare: Where Is It Heading?, Healthcare Web Summit (April 16, 2025)
  • Sharing Health Information Through California’s Data Exchange Framework: Implementation Issues and Practical Considerations, California Society for Healthcare Attorneys 2024 Fall Seminar, Sacramento, California (November 15, 2024)
  • The New World of Physician Wellness, Medical Staff Leaders and the Law Conference 2024, Costa Mesa, California (April 12, 2024)
  • Physicians & Social Media: Navigating the Legal Risks, California Association Medical Staff Services, Greater Long Beach Chapter 2023 Virtual Legal Education Conference (October 27, 2023)
  • Common Pitfalls with Physician Recruitments, California Society for Healthcare Attorneys 2023 Annual Meeting and Spring Seminar, Indian Wells, California (May 5, 2023)
  • Don’t Forget the Medical Staff: The Unpredictable Dynamics of a Hospital Merger or Affiliation, Medical Staff Leaders and the Law 2023 Conference, Costa Mesa, California (March 31, 2023)
  • When a HIPAA Violation Becomes a Crime: Recent Trends in Enforcement of HIPAA’s Criminal Provisions, Virtual 40th National HIPAA Summit (March 7, 2023)
  • The Stark Reality of the Medical Staff and Hospital Relationship, California Association Medical Staff Services, Greater Long Beach Chapter 2022 Virtual Legal Education Conference (October 26, 2022)
  • Physician Wellbeing, Burnout, and Belonging, Medical Staff Leaders and the Law 2022 Conference, Costa Mesa, California (April 29, 2022)
  • Employee Health Information: When Is It PHI Protected Under HIPAA?, at the Health Care Compliance Association’s 26th Annual Compliance Institute in Phoenix, Arizona (March 28, 2022)
  • HIPAA Privacy Basics for Legal Professionals, at the 43rd Annual Los Angeles Paralegal Association in Glendale, California (October 12, 2019)
  • The Social Determinants of Health: The Next HIPAA Frontier, at the 27th National HIPAA Summit in Arlington, Virginia (March 28, 2018)
  • The Non-Physician Practitioner Assistance Exception to the Stark Law: A New Tool for Healthcare Workforce Recruitment, 2016-09 Health Care Law Monthly 1 (2016)
  • A Legal Primer on Clinical Privileging of Nurse Practitioners, Physician Assistants, and Other Advanced Practice Professionals, at the National Association of Medical Staff Services’ 39th Educational Conference and Exhibition in Seattle, Washington (October 5, 2015)
  • Terminating the Hospital-Physician Employment Relationship: Navigating Conflicts Arising from the Physician’s Dual Roles as Employee and Medical Staff Member, 23 University of Miami Business Law Review 425 (2015)
  • Understanding the Challenges of Implementing the Affordable Care Act, before the Illinois State Bar Association in Chicago, Illinois (September 12, 2014)

Life Beyond the Law

Gayland enjoys spending time with his family, following developments in health and wearable technologies, and cultivating exotic plants.

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