Health Care

HunterMaclean’s skilled and experienced health care lawyers can effectively guide your organization through the dynamic and demanding health law landscape, offering comprehensive regulatory, transactional, and litigation services, coordinated with HunterMaclean’s full array of legal professionals, including fraud and abuse, corporate, information technology, tax, employment, real estate, and litigation experts.

Overview

HunterMaclean’s skilled and experienced health care lawyers can effectively guide your organization through the dynamic and demanding health law landscape, offering comprehensive regulatory, transactional, and litigation services, coordinated with HunterMaclean’s full array of legal professionals, including fraud and abuse, corporate, information technology, tax, employment, real estate, and litigation experts.

Our health care attorneys provide advice and counseling to major health care providers regarding, among other matters: strategic and regulatory counseling, managed care contracting and strategy, negotiation and implementation of contractual and employment arrangements with physicians and other health care providers, establishment of and ongoing operational advice to independent physician associations and physician-hospital organizations, analysis and advice concerning compliance with Fraud and Abuse, Anti-Kickback Statute, False Claims Act, and Stark statutes and regulations, Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, development and implementation of strategies to create vertically integrated delivery systems, CON and licensure compliance, and provider consolidation and related mergers, acquisitions, and joint venture transactions.

Our partnership includes a former chairman of the Product Liability Advisory Council, an Assistant U.S. Trustee for the District of Delaware, a former trial attorney with the U.S. Trustee Program in Delaware, former Assistant U.S. Attorneys, former federal judicial law clerks, former attorneys for the Internal Revenue Service, former attorneys in the U.S. Air Force’s and U.S. Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps, a past chairman of the Admiralty Committee of the American Bar Association’s TIPS section, a former member of the board of directors of the Maritime Law Association of the United States, past presidents of the Georgia Academy of Healthcare Attorneys, and members of the National Association of Bond Lawyers, the American Health Lawyers Association, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, and the American Trial Lawyers Association. Our attorneys are also admitted to practice in the U.S. Supreme Court, U. S. Tax Court, several federal appellate and district courts, and numerous state courts.

  • Hospital-physician structures and ventures including integration strategies, ambulatory surgery centers, diagnostic imaging centers, and medical office buildings
  • EMTALA obligations
  • Intermediate sanctions/IRC Section 4958 and IRC Section 409A compliance and private inurement/private benefit analysis
  • Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) audits and development of tool kits for internal staff use
  • Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement appeals
  • HIPAA (including HITECH) compliance and development of business associate agreements
  • Compliance Program development and effectiveness reviews
  • Strategic and regulatory counseling, fair market value assessments, managed care contracting and strategy, and negotiation and implementation of contractual and employment arrangements with physicians and other health care providers
  • Advice to boards of directors on governance, regulatory risks, fiduciary obligations, and compliance and operational issues
  • Establishment of and ongoing operational advice to independent physician associations and physician-hospital organizations
  • Analysis and advice concerning compliance with Anti-Kickback Statute, Stark, False Claims Act, qui tam/whistleblower investigations, and Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement
  • Tax-exempt bond financing and compliance assessments and programs
  • Development and implementation of strategies to create vertically integrated delivery systems
  • Certificate of Need and licensure (including licensed bed) compliance
  • Physician recruitment and retention (including hospital-physician immigration matters)
  • On-call agreements and subsidies
  • Executive compensation and deferred compensation plans (qualified and non-qualified) including ERISA and IRC Section 409A compliance
  • Development of hospital-physician Centers of Excellence
  • Hospital liens
  • Medical residency, graduate medical education, and academic medical center integration
  • Provider consolidation and related mergers, acquisitions, and joint venture transactions

The Firm has been engaged to assist health care clients in the following specific matters:

  • Bond transaction: $29,785,000 Hospital Authority of Effingham County (Georgia) Refunding & Improvement Revenue Anticipation Certificate
  • Obtaining a favorable letter ruling from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division on a joint collaboration between two competing hospital systems for supply purchasing
  • Representing a major hospital system in U.S. Department of Justice qui tam/whistleblower investigation and settlement involving the False Claims Act, Stark, and the Anti-Kickback Statute
  • Successfully negotiating a waiver agreement with the bond insurer for a major hospital system that was in technical default of its tax-exempt bond covenants
  • Obtaining a dismissal of a defendant in a U.S. Department of Justice qui tam/whistleblower action against a health system and members of its medical staff
  • Successful defending a Medicare audit and reducing an alleged overpayment from more than $2M to just over $8,000
  • Obtaining IRS Private Letter Rulings for a major hospital reorganization and a hospital-physician tax-exempt entity
  • Obtaining tax-exempt status for respective cancer, ophthalmology, and otolaryngology entities
  • Negotiating service provider agreements on behalf of plan sponsors for welfare plans and retirement plans (e.g. claims administration services agreement for a self-insured medical plan; investment management agreements for pension plans; consulting agreements for medical plans; investment consulting agreements for 401(k) plan fiduciary committees)
  • Assisting a major hospital system in obtaining reduced penalties assessed by the U.S. Department of Labor for late deposits of employee contributions to 401(k) plan
  • Assisting plan fiduciaries in adoption of fiduciary policies and investment policies for retirement plans
  • Advising ERISA plan administrative committees on determinations of ERISA claims and appeals
  • Serving as hospital counsel for tax-exempt bond financings
  • Organizing and structuring a hospital-based ambulatory surgery center
  • $300M agreement whereby electronic medical record (EMR) technology is supplied to regional health care providers
  • $80M expansion of a software license, and establishment of a hosted services arrangement, for an EMR system on behalf of a large integrated health care delivery network in the Midwest
  • $68M software licensing and implementation services agreement for EMR system of a complex, multi-hospital health system
  • $67M licensing and implementation of health information system of major health care vendor for multi-entity academic hospital medical center
  • $35M licensing and implementation of health information system of major vendor by large private hospital system
  • $29M licensing and implementation of health information system of major vendor for large metropolitan county hospital
  • $27M licensing and implementation of enterprise-wide heath information system (designed to meet the requirements for “meaningful use” of CCHIT-certified EMR technology) for a regional hospital system in the Southeast
  • $25M licensing and implementation of health information system for a large, multi-entity hospital chain
  • $20M line of credit procurement between a national bank and a major hospital system
  • $15M procurement of health information system by one of the largest networks of community health care centers in the United States
  • $15M procurement of information technology infrastructure (network, unified voice communications system, security, real time location system) to support large new hospital in major metropolitan area
  • $9M licensing and implementation of an electronic health record system by an academic medical center in a major metropolitan area
  • $9M exclusive license of advanced bio-informatics software
  • $8M licensing and implementation of a transformational, hospital-wide health information system for multi-entity hospital group
  • $7M acquisition of hospital-wide health information system, as well as server co-location and outsourcing services project, for one of the nation’s top pediatric hospitals
  • $3.5M licensing and implementation of a state-of-the-art, 3D-capable, picture archiving and communication system (PACS) to store and serve medical images for the radiology department of an academic medical center in a major metropolitan area
  • S3M licensing and implementation of an in-house pharmacy automation system for a major southeastern regional hospital
  • Licensing of medical performance analysis/management software by one of the nation’s leading pediatric hospitals
  • Licensing of electronic health record software for large federally qualified health care center operating agencies that provide health care and social services to large urban neighborhoods
  • Review of applicability of Stark 85/15 rule to various EMR acquisitions
  • Drafting and negotiating the various agreements associated with a RHIO being implemented in the Northeast, including software licenses and services agreements; agreements with labs, hospitals, health plans, and other data providers; and subscription agreements for use with individual physicians and physician groups
  • Creation and negotiation of information sharing agreement between large academic medical institution and community health care center to allow interactive use of electronic health records by physicians serving both institutions 
  • Licensing of emergency department information systems and integrated software solutions for the critical and high-acuity care units, as well as surgery and anesthesia departments, of various large hospitals and integrated delivery networks (IDNs) for a leading health care technology company
  • Licensing and implementation of health information system for not-for-profit community hospital
  • Licensing of electronic prescription software license by one of the largest networks of community health care centers in the United States
  • Creation of form ASP agreement for the provision of billing systems to neurosurgery-focused physician practice groups by a leading service provider
  • Creation of laboratory services agreement for hospital group to use in making laboratory services, and related systems and software, available to individual physicians and independent physician groups
  • Procurement of managed firewall services for a health care client that develops, markets, and supports leading-edge solutions for patient billing and online account management
  • Licensing of software from leading clinical laboratory for internet-based lab testing orders and reports that interact with electronic medical record software
  • Negotiated agreement for deployment and operation of electronic health record connectivity through community health integration platform
  • Licensing of software, and purchase of services, to create system for the clinical staff of a large hospital group to use in bidding on work shifts

Nonprofit Organizations

HunterMaclean’s corporate and tax attorneys handle the formation and governance of nonprofit entities for a broad spectrum of clients and activities.

ERISA & Employee Benefits

HunterMaclean’s ERISA and employee benefits practice group advises public, private, taxable, and tax-exempt clients on a wide variety of employee benefit issues related to the design, documentation, and administration of…

Immigration

HunterMaclean’s immigration practice group has over twenty years of experience in a wide range of complex immigration issues and has represented foreign nationals and companies from all over the world.

Information Technology & Outsourcing

HunterMaclean’s information technology and outsourcing practice group provides clients with effective, practical, and dynamic solutions to technology-related contracting and legal compliance needs.

Medical Malpractice

HunterMaclean’s medical malpractice group has been representing hospitals, professional practice groups, birthing centers, physicians, nurses, and many other types of medical care providers, as well as pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies, medical…


Insights

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Contacts

Matthew J. Repella

Associate

Email

Tel 912.236.0261

Samuel J. Seaman

Associate

Email

Tel 912.236.0261