Emily Wey brings 30 years (as of 2025) of expertise in health care transactional and reimbursement law, along with 12 years of experience as a commercial arbitrator and mediator. She delivers informed, efficient dispute resolution services across all sectors of the health care industry, as well as for broader commercial disputes.
With three decades of experience in healthcare law and more than a decade as a neutral, Emily brings unmatched depth and dual-perspective insight to healthcare dispute resolution. We spoke with her about her background, her focus on reimbursement issues, and her approach to resolving complex conflicts on the AAA Healthcare Panel.
Q: Tell us about your background in healthcare law or the healthcare industry.
Emily: Coming from a family of health care providers, pursuing a career in health care law felt like a natural extension of my background when I decided to go to law school. Over the past 30 years, I have practiced health care law at firms ranging from boutique health care specialty practices to an AmLaw 100 firm, where I led a health care reimbursement disputes practice group.
My legal expertise spans corporate and transactional matters, fraud and abuse compliance, and health care technology. However, my true specialization lies in health care reimbursement. In addition to my law firm experience, I’ve served as in-house counsel for both a large specialty provider and a major multi-state payer. This dual perspective has given me valuable insight into the business realities on both sides of the disputes I now help resolve.
Q: What types of healthcare disputes do you typically handle as an arbitrator or mediator?
Emily: While I handle a substantial number of payment disputes between health care providers and payers, I also regularly adjudicate disputes between payers and their self-funded plan clients. In addition, my docket frequently includes health care technology matters, employment disputes—particularly those involving physicians—and conflicts arising from health care transactions.
Q: What drew you to ADR work in the healthcare space? What do you value most about serving as a neutral on the AAA’s Healthcare Panel?
Emily: Throughout my career, I have maintained a subspecialty in provider-payer relationships, making the disputes that arise from those dynamics a consistent focus of my legal practice from the very start. Transitioning from advocacy to dispute resolution felt like a natural progression—it allows me to help health care entities move past conflict and continue collaborating in the delivery of care.
Serving on the AAA Healthcare Panel has been especially rewarding, offering the opportunity to work on complex, high-level cases across a wide range of issues. It’s also a privilege to collaborate with some of the most experienced and respected health care neutrals in the country. The support provided by AAA’s administrators has been instrumental in enabling me to deliver my most effective and efficient services as a neutral.
Q: What advice do you have for parties preparing for arbitration or mediation in complex healthcare disputes?
Emily: While it may at times feel contrary to the role of client advocacy, fostering a collegial working relationship with opposing counsel is essential to ensuring that arbitration proceeds as efficiently and smoothly as possible. This should be a shared goal for counsel on both sides.