In our next Celebration of Women Dealmakers, we highlight Andrea Balogh, Executive Vice President of legal and corporate development at Women’s Health USA Inc. (Whusa), a healthcare and management services organization that partners with women’s health practices across the United States.
After a 10-year stint in private practice, Andrea jumped to the corporate sector to advocate for a novel healthcare model that fosters the independence of physician groups and helps align ancillary services to meet patient demand.
Andrea joined Whusa in April 2013 as Chief Legal Officer to oversee all legal and compliance matters for the organization. She is responsible for Whusa’s corporate governance and healthcare regulatory matters, contracting, real estate, banking and finance issues, as well as mergers and acquisitions activity. As Senior Vice President of human resources, she manages Whusa’s HR function, as well as human resources services provided to more than 2,000 employees across eight corporate clients. In October 2019, she also became executive vice president of Whusa’s legal and corporate department, making her responsible for the organization’s nationwide growth and development efforts.
With that aim, Andrea leads complex deals that respond to the trend of increased consolidation within the heavily regulated U.S. healthcare market. Whusa offers joint venture partnership opportunities in which physicians maintain their independence while leveraging the capital, resources and business acumen of a multifaceted organization.
The kind of autonomy afforded to physicians under Whusa’s pioneering model is what attracted Andrea to the organization. As Whusa’s sole legal counsel, Andrea is free to take risks and make executive decisions necessary to structure deals. Her challenge is to build legal structures that overcome regulatory restrictions prohibiting things like earn-outs and shared profits, and to translate those legalities into tangible business terms to which physicians relate. With deal-making prowess and a deep understanding of the ever-changing healthcare market, Andrea is adept at structuring agreements that abide by healthcare regulations while addressing providers’ real-world challenges.
But she does not take on just any deal. She focuses on creating partnerships under a “total woman” approach. Together, Andrea and Whusa’s deeply experienced and specialized team — which includes numerous female leaders — align with OBGYN groups to build comprehensive women’s healthcare ecosystems.
Andrea and Whusa also are steadfast champions of women and causes that support them. Andrea sits on the board of directors, the Finance and Audit Committee, the Quality Improvement Committee, and the Community and Economic Benefit Committee for the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, the only hospital in the state dedicated exclusively to the health and well-being of children and families. She leverages outside female service providers, including a nearly exclusively female McGuireWoods team, to structure strategic women-focused partnerships.
Whusa is one of the largest physician practice management companies dedicated to women’s health, serving a growing population of nearly 600 care providers throughout the United States. Andrea is critical to its mission to ensure quality care for women across the country.
The McGuireWoods Women in Private Equity & Finance Initiative promotes the advancement of women in private equity and lending through a series of varied experiences that provide substantive educational and networking opportunities.