Biography

Wakaba Tessier focuses her practice on health care law. She is highly skilled at navigating the complex health care regulatory landscape particularly in the area of compliance at both the state and federal levels across a variety of health care issues, privacy and data concerns, third-party payor audits and inquiries, and day-to-day operational challenges.

She advises clients ranging from individual physicians, physician groups, hospital systems and other ancillary health care providers, such as specialty pharmacies, clinical laboratories, behavioral health care providers and educational institutions. Wakaba is well-versed in pharmacy operations, clinical research agreements, physician compensation arrangements, telemedicine, federal and state reimbursement issues, and medical staff privileging and credentialing. She is knowledgeable about a wide range of issues facing health care clients and regularly advises on matters related to the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, Stark Law and the False Claims Act, and related implications for emerging companies in health care mergers and acquisitions and financing transactions. 

Wakaba also has extensive experience in privacy law and counsels clients in sensitive and highly regulated issues, including health information confidentiality, data breaches, mental health records, multistate recordkeeping and data transfer, and big data strategies for the creation and implementation of data warehouses.

Background

Prior to joining Armstrong Teasdale, Wakaba was executive vice president and general counsel at a life sciences company based in Syracuse, New York. She previously served as a health care associate and partner at several large multinational firms.

Before earning her master’s and law degrees, Wakaba was a research associate at a boutique health care consulting company in the Boston area.

Education

  • Washington University School of Law  (J.D., 2009)
    • Washington University Law Review (Managing Editor)
  • Valparaiso University  (M.S., 2008)
    • International Commerce and Policy
  • Wellesley College  (B.A., 2002)
    • Psychology
    • Japanese Studies

Admissions

  • Missouri
  • Kansas

Professional Activities

  • Law360 Health Editorial Advisory Board (2020-2021, 2023)

Accolades

  • On Being a Lawyer of Color, Midwest Region Hot List (2014)
  • Missouri/Kansas Super Lawyers®, Rising Star (2018-19)
  • Ingram’s 40 Under Forty (2018)

Languages

  • Japanese
Contact Us
  • Worldwide
  • Boston, MA
  • Chicago, IL
  • Denver, CO
  • Dublin, Ireland
  • Edwardsville, IL
  • Jefferson City, MO
  • Kansas City, MO
  • Las Vegas, NV
  • London, England
  • Miami, FL
  • New York, NY
  • Orange County, CA
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Princeton, NJ
  • Salt Lake City, UT
  • St. Louis, MO
  • Washington, D.C.
  • Wilmington, DE
Worldwide
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Boston, MA
800 Boylston St.
30th Floor
Boston, MA 02199
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Chicago, IL
100 North Riverside Plaza
Suite 1500
Chicago, IL 60606-1520
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Dublin 2, Ireland
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115 N. Second St.
Edwardsville, IL 62025
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Jefferson City, MO
101 E. High St.
First Floor
Jefferson City, MO 65101
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Kansas City, MO
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Las Vegas, NV
7160 Rafael Rivera Way
Suite 320
Las Vegas, NV 89113
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London, England
Royal College of Surgeons of England
38-43 Lincoln’s Inn Fields
London, WC2A 3PE
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355 Alhambra Circle
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New York, NY
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2005 Market Street
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Philadelphia, PA 19103
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Princeton, NJ
100 Overlook Center
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Salt Lake City, UT
222 South Main St.
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Salt Lake City, UT 84101
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St. Louis, MO
7700 Forsyth Blvd.
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Washington, D.C.
1717 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Suite 400
Washington, DC 20006
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Wilmington, DE
1007 North Market Street
Wilmington, DE 19801
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