In a Corporate Counsel article titled Adversity Breed Character, author Shannon Green describes how Wellpoint, Inc., the nation’s largest health benefits company ranked by enrollment, was able to overcome the negativity bestowed upon it by America’s health care crisis. When Wellpoint’s California subsidiary proposed a rate increase by up to 39%, policyholders and government officials alike took notice. The proposal, publicly criticized by President Obama, ultimately led to the federal health care reform law. But, in the wake of the criticism, Wellpoint’s legal department was able to unite.

Interpreting and complying with the new regulations of Affordable Care Act (ACA) was not an easy task. Wellpoint’s legal team spent hours upon hours analyzing and implementing the new provisions. John Cannon, current General Counsel of Wellpoint attributes the legal team’s success to a number of factors. He acknowledges Wellpoint strives to recruit and retain the best talent, but Cannon also contributes the relationship of the lawyers and the organizational changes to the team’s success.

Wellpoint is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. Wellpoint’s legal team, however, is dispersed throughout the country. The dissemination of lawyers makes valid business sense, given the largely state regulated health insurance industry, but Cannon, who came to Wellpoint from the Cigna-Corporation, initially found the scattered legal department difficult to embrace.
Cannon had formerly worked with a centralized legal department where he was able to develop close relationships with fellow colleagues. The dissemination of Wellpoint’s legal department, however, made this feat troublesome. Thankfully, Cannon was able to utilize video conferencing equipment to establish interactive quarterly “town hall” meetings with the entire department which allowed him to develop a rapport with the members of his department.

Given Cannon’s desire to be submersed among the corporation’s employees, it is not surprising that he also decided to flatten the corporation’s hierarchy, a move which allowed him to remain abreast of the day to day decisions affecting the company. But “flattening” the organization was not the only transition Cannon made. He also decided to integrate in-house counsel into the day to day business operations of the company so that Wellpoint’s attorneys would be viewed as an integral part of the business operations who just so happen to be able to share their legal expertise.

It appears Cannon’s moves have paid off. Wellpoint’s legal team has not only withstood the heat, but also has been able to successfully adapt to the ongoing changes facing the healthcare industry, persevering through one of the most trying times in the history of the industry. The lesson – adapt and survive. Any company is destined to face challenges, but it is how a company reacts to those challenges that will determine the course of the company’s future. In Wellpoint’s case, deciding to unite and become more integrated was pivotal to the company’s triumph. Wellpoint also discovered that an inclusive work environment was pivotal to fostering success within the legal department. Although Wellpoint’s modifications are not a blanket prescription for all businesses, a company cannot remain stagnant through trying times. In order to persevere, an organization must learn to adjust to the ever changing landscape. If a company is successfully able to do so, the lesson of “adapt and survive” will soon become “adapt and strive”.