Hospitals and Health Systems

For more information about this practice area, please contact Donald A. Davies.

We provide general legal counsel for numerous small, medium and large hospitals and health systems. This representation has involved all substantive areas of law that hospitals and health systems encounter, including those set forth below. By way of illustration, our legal services have addressed medical staff issues (including the development of medical staff bylaws), corporate and governance issues, tax exempt status issues and all types of hospital/physician contracting.

Healthcare Mergers and Acquisitions

We have represented a variety of healthcare providers in connection with acquisitions, divestitures, reorganizations and joint ventures. This representation has ranged from the development of small ancillary healthcare service joint ventures between hospitals and physicians to a combination of large health systems.

Physician Groups

We represent a variety of physicians, ranging from one physician practices to multi-group practices. We believe that the experience and perspective we have acquired in representing hospitals and health systems assists us in counseling physicians in their relationships with hospitals and health systems. In addition, our services cover the wide spectrum of healthcare issues that physicians face, including HIPAA compliance, fraud and abuse and self-referral law compliance, as well as reimbursement issues.

Fraud and Abuse and Self-Referral Laws

Every healthcare transaction and contract must be analyzed in light of the complex federal and state fraud and abuse and self-referral laws. We have significant experience in counseling and defending clients with respect to such laws. This is a constantly evolving area of the law.

E Health

The healthcare industry is quickly evolving with respect to electronic matters. Communications among all of the industry players (from payors to healthcare providers to patients) are being accomplished more and more through electronic means. For example, there is a significant movement underway in this country toward computerized physician order entry ("CPOE") systems. These types of communication have unique issues that require significant legal experience. Our lawyers have that experience.

HIPAA Compliance

We have counseled a variety of healthcare providers with respect to HIPAA issues and assisted in the development of a variety of compliance programs.

Healthcare Finance

We have assisted in a variety of financings in connection with healthcare entities and transactions. We have frequently served as counsel to hospitals and health systems in both taxable and tax-exempt public hospital revenue bond financings.

Anti-Trust Counseling and Defense

We advise and counsel our hospital and health system clients regarding the federal and state antitrust issues inherent in many contractual, joint venture and other affiliation transactions commonly encountered in the health care industry today.