Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel, P.C.

With advances in technology and the aging of America, the health care industry continues to grow. However, coupled with that growth are major changes in the industry’s organization and structure, impacting all aspects of the health care supply chain.

Chambliss health care lawyers provide guidance to clients for issues ranging from compliance to professional and facilities licensure. Through its interdisciplinary approach, health care lawyers work closely with the firm’s Business, Finance, Intellectual Property, Labor and Employment, and Litigation Sections to bring strategic solutions.

In addition to counseling health care clients on business and regulatory issues, the firm is able to assist when claims or lawsuits are filed against them in both the professional and commercial settings. The firm’s lawyers include medical malpractice litigators who have handled numerous defense cases before state and federal courts. The firm also assists professionals involved in credentialing matters, medical staff disputes, and matters reportable to the national health care practitioner data bank.

Health care lawyers are actively involved in many industry and professional groups, such as American Health Lawyers Association, Defense Research Institute, and the Health Law Section of the American Bar Association. Many are included in The Best Lawyers in America, and are regular presenters on health care topics.

Chambliss lawyers provide guidance to leading health care participants throughout Tennessee and the Southeast. Clients include:

• Physicians and other medical groups
• Physician practice management companies
• Outpatient diagnostic centers
• Ambulatory surgical centers
• Faculty practice plans
• Home health providers and hospices
• Hospitals
• Medical equipment suppliers
• Nursing homes and assisted living facilities

Some of the specific areas in which Chambliss provides counsel include:

• Acquisitions and restructuring involving physician practices, hospitals, and other health care entities
• Analyzing non-competition and non-solicitation restrictions
• Certificate of need statutes and regulations
• Compliance plans
• Contract and business ventures between physicians and hospitals
• Governmental and private investigations
• HIPAA and other patient confidentiality laws
• Litigation and dispute resolution
• Managed care contracts
• Organization of physician and professional health care entities
• Regulatory matters including fraud and abuse, Stark, and the False Claims Act
• Unwinding physician and hospital relationships
• Medicare and other payor audits

Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel is committed to promoting racial, cultural, religious, ethnic and gender diversity in our workplace and in our community.  Valuing and respecting differences among our employees is very important to the firm.  Our commitment to diversity helps us better understand our clients and provide effective, comprehensive services.  Further, it fosters employee retention and ensures that we have a positive work environment at the firm. We also show our commitment to diversity by our participation in a wide range of professional and civic organizations.

Diversity Committee

Chambliss' Diversity Committee has created and maintains a set of strong guidelines for diversity recruitment and retention and promotes an environment of acceptance and support at the firm.  We realize the importance of significant racial, religious, cultural, ethnic and gender diversity, and our Diversity Committee oversees our initiatives to recruit employees from all walks of life.  The Committee also evaluates the effectiveness of diversity initiatives, updates the diversity guidelines as needed, and seeks new opportunities to broaden and retain a diverse workforce. A key portion of the firm's strategic plan is our commitment to increasing our diversity at all levels within the firm. 

Recruiting

Our Recruiting Committee is charged with hiring lawyers having diverse backgrounds and life experiences.  We interview annually at minority job fairs in Chattanooga and throughout the Southeast, and conduct on-campus interviews at schools with significant minority enrollments.  The firm is a member of the Diversity Section of the National Association for Law Placement (NALP).  Please visit the Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel Careers page for more information on attorney recruiting.

Professional & Civic Leadership

Our attorneys are involved in many civic and legal organizations, serving in board positions and volunteering time for projects that promote diversity in the community and in the legal profession.

Our firm partners with BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee and Brainerd High School to conduct Chattanooga's Street Law Diversity Pipeline Program, a nationally recognized educational series with the objective to promote diversity in the legal profession.  Through this program, our teams of lawyers go into the classroom to talk to students about legal careers.  We recently held a one-day conference that provided student workshops that were interactive, real-world examples of careers in the legal arena.

In 2010, members of the firm contributed more than 1,250 hours to pro bono work for clients who could not afford to pay for legal services. Giving back to the community through pro bono legal representation is a cornerstone of Chambliss’ practice.  Chambliss and many of its attorneys provide pro bono legal services to elderly, abused, and low-income residents of our region through Legal Aid of East Tennessee (LAET).  The firm received LAET’s first Pro Bono Firm of the Year Award, and recently, Chambliss attorneys Max Bahner, Bruce Bailey and Bill Carriger were three of the eight local attorneys inducted into LAET's inaugural Pro Bono Hall of Fame.  LAET previously honored William M. Barker, a senior attorney with the firm and former Chief Justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court, for his pro bono contributions by naming its Equal Access to Justice Award after him.  Finally, LAET's Pro Bono Volunteer of the Year Award is named after Bruce Bailey, who was instrumental in starting the Chattanooga Bar Association pro bono program. Our firm currently supports the following legal and community diversity initiatives and organizations promoting diversity:

• Boys & Girls Club of Chattanooga
• Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy
• Children's Home/Chambliss Shelter
• Girls Inc.
• Hope for the Inner City
• Junior Achievement of Chattanooga
• La Paz de Dios 
• Legal Aid of East Tennessee's Pro Bono Program
• National Association for Law Placement, Diversity Section
• National Hispanic Bar Association
• Street Law Corporate Legal Diversity Pipeline Program
• Tennessee Alliance of Black Lawyers
• Tennessee Bar Association Diversity Committee (Bruce C. Bailey chaired committee in 2010 and continues as a member)
• Urban League of Chattanooga
• Chattanooga Women's Leadership Institute
• YMCA.

Work/Life Balance

We are committed to helping our attorneys and staff integrate their professional and personal lives, so that they can satisfy the needs of their personal lives while reaching their full professional potential. Acknowledging the unique circumstances of each employee, we make the following arrangements when practical:

• Flex-time
• Part-time positions
• Job sharing
• Telecommuting
• Supportive environment for working mothers and single parents.