Barrett
McNagny began providing legal services to health care providers before health
care became formally recognized as a practice area of law. Today, health care
represents a major industry of our country and attorneys in our Health Care Group
concentrate on the legal needs of health care institutions and providers.
We
provide services to a variety of health care providers, including physicians,
physician groups, physician networks, hospital medical staffs,
hospital/physician networks, ambulatory surgery centers, preferred provider
organizations, community mental health centers, and liability insurance
carriers.
Health Care Regulatory and Administrative Matters
The
health care industry is heavily regulated, both at the federal and state levels.
Our experienced attorneys routinely counsel clients on various regulatory and
statutory issues:
- Affordable Care Act
- Concepts of private
inurement and private benefit
- Compensation structures
- Fraud and abuse laws that
generally fall into one of three broad categories which prohibit:
- the submission of false,
fraudulent, or misleading claims to any government entity or third-party
payor.
- the use of kickbacks or
other payments in exchange for referrals.
- referrals of
Medicare/Medicaid patients for certain designated health services by a
physician to an entity with which the physician or the physician's
immediate family member(s) have a financial relationship.
- Anti-kickback law and safe
harbor regulations
- Third-party billing
companies
- Health care fraud and abuse
compliance programs
- Ambulatory surgery centers
- Quality Assurance and
Utilization Review
- Peer review
- National Practitioner Data
Bank
- Health Care Quality
Improvement Act
- Advance directives;
appointment of health care representative
- Medical licensing
- Medical record requirements,
including confidentiality, retention, and computerization issues
- HIPAA Privacy of Health
Information Programs
- Assignment and re-assignment
of Medicare reimbursement
- Billing for
physician-extender services
- Medical staff and credentialing
matters
- Physician recruitment
agreements
- Issues relating to
professional courtesy
Health Care Corporate and Transactional Matters
Attorneys
in our Health Care Group provide clients with a full range of corporate and
transactional representation. We counsel all types of business entities,
including corporations (such as c-corporations, s-corporations, and
professional corporations), limited liability companies, partnerships, limited
partnerships, limited liability partnerships, and sole proprietorships. We
prepare and review various corporate documents including bylaws, operating
agreements, stock purchase and sale agreements, and employment agreements for
physician and non-physician employees, such as physician assistants, registered
nurses, clinical nurse specialists, and physical therapists. In addition we
have assisted in the negotiation of many managed care agreements between
provider groups and payors.
We have
particular experience and advise health care clients on various issues such as
managed care, Medicare/Medicaid and third-party reimbursement, mergers and
acquisitions, corporate restructuring, and joint ventures. Our antitrust and
corporate securities law experience provides guidance to our clients in these
complex areas of law. We have worked closely with single-specialty entities and
have advised them on the advantages and disadvantages of various approaches
including multi-specialty groups, independent practice associations, and
for-profit and not-for-profit hospital/physician joint ventures.
Our
experience also includes: advising employers and plans on issues and health
benefits for employees and retirees; advising quality assurance/utilization
review companies on increasing state regulation and contracting; and assessing
potential liability exposure of managed care organizations and employers with
respect to provider credentialing and selection.
Medical Malpractice Litigation
The
defense of medical malpractice has been a large part of our litigation practice
for many years. Our attorneys have represented physicians, nurses, medical
professionals, and health care organizations in every facet of malpractice and
general health law litigation. We have extensive experience in defending cases
all the way to trial and with other means of dispute resolution for lawsuits.
Our attorneys have experience in the courtroom and have appeared before state
and federal courts, and before licensing organizations.
Employment Law and Litigation
In addition to attorneys who are very
experienced in the defense of medical liability cases, Barrett McNagny has
experienced and highly respected trial lawyers who represent health care
employers in a variety of contexts, such as premises liability, workers
compensation, and general personnel and human resource issues, and
non-competition litigation. Additionally, our attorneys defend and provide
advice concerning wrongful discharge claims, employment discrimination claims,
equal employment and affirmative action obligations. Our attorneys also prepare
and review personnel policies and programs, such as employee handbooks, drug
testing programs, and other procedures, and have the ability to handle both
simple and complex commercial and regulatory litigation.
