John R. Hickman

• Counsel to major insurers on COVID-19-related compliance, ACA compliance, and health benefit and HIPAA privacy issues.
• Counsel to financial institutions and card associations for health benefit and HIPAA compliance issues.

John Hickman is the leader of Alston & Bird’s Health Benefits Practice, where he leads several attorneys devoted exclusively to health care reform issues under the Affordable Care Act, HIPAA privacy, health savings accounts (HSAs), and consumer-directed health care, flexible benefit plans, and related health benefit issues. John has worked closely with health plans, financial institutions, and employers, as well as the IRS, Treasury, and Department of Labor, in addressing health benefit issues.

John has been inducted into the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel and is listed in The Best Lawyers in America© and Who’s Who Legal. The Best Lawyers in America named him a 2016 “Lawyer of the Year” in the area of Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law, and Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business has recognized him as Band 1 in Georgia for Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation. John has lectured widely and published articles on health care reform, ERISA, and cafeteria plan issues. He is co-author of the following health benefit treatises: EBIA Cafeteria Plans, EBIA HIPAA Portability, Privacy & Security, and EBIA Consumer-Driven Health Care (all published by Thomson Reuters). John is head of the Technical Advisory Committee and is on the board of the Employers Council on Flexible Compensation (ECFC). John was also an adjunct professor of law at Emory University School of Law.

Bar Admissions

• Georgia

Education

• Emory University (J.D., 1989)
• Florida Atlantic University (B.A., 1986)

Memberships