Health

The Changing Face of Health Care: Serving Client Needs

Saul Ewing's Health Practice provides full-service capabilities to virtually all types of healthcare providers, including but not limited to:

• Academic Medical Centers
• Ambulatory Surgery Centers and Other Freestanding Ambulatory Facilities
• Community Hospitals
• Durable Medical Equipment (DME) Companies
• Healthcare Consulting Firms
• Infusion Therapy Providers
• Long-Term Care Facilities (e.g., nursing homes and assisted living facilities)
• Medical Billing Companies
• Medical Specialty Boards
• Pharmacies
• Physician and Dental Practices
• Provider Joint Ventures

Our Health Practice represents clients in a wide range of corporate, commercial, regulatory and litigation matters. Our team of attorneys serving the healthcare industry is augmented by public finance, real estate, tax, labor and employment and environmental lawyers in the Firm who have substantive experience serving healthcare clients on a regular basis.

Providing Counsel in the Full Range of Health Law issues

Saul Ewing's Health Practice combines in-depth experience with leading-edge strategies and insights to meet client needs on healthcare-related issues.

Saul Ewing's Health Practice provides timely, cost-effective and thorough representation and counseling in health law transactional, commercial, regulatory and litigation issues. We offer a range of legal services for general corporate, litigation, finance, tax, employment matters and noncompetition regulatory issues; third-party reimbursement advice, counseling and dispute resolution; white-collar civil and criminal defense; mergers and acquisitions and intellectual property. Our Health Practice also has significant experience with medical staff credentialing and disputes and a wide variety of patient care issues.

The Health Practice advises clients regarding the complex requirements of new and existing federal and state laws and regulations, including:

• Licensing, Accreditation and Survey Matters
• Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA)
• Federal Health Benefit Programs (e.g. Medicare, Medicaid) and Other Third Party Payor and Reimbursement Matters
• Federal and State Anti-Fraud and Abuse Statutes

Practice Areas

Our Health attorneys concentrate their practices representing healthcare providers in three general disciplines.

• Corporate and Commercial
• Regulatory Advice and Counseling
• Litigation

Corporate and Commercial

The Health Practice assists healthcare providers in developing and implementing virtually all forms of commercial arrangements, including mergers, acquisitions and new business formations. In addition, we have significant experience in areas such as physician-hospital joint ventures (including radiation oncology and cardiology-related ventures and ambulatory surgery centers). We also provide advice and counsel on day-to-day business operations, including management and governance, all types of contract drafting and negotiation, physician and staff employment issues, and tax matters.

Based on our in-depth experience in the healthcare industry, we are often engaged to provide advice and counsel to private equity firms and commercial lending institutions on evaluating legal issues surrounding healthcare investment and lending opportunities in the healthcare industry.

Regulatory Advice and Counseling

Saul Ewing's Health Practice provides regulatory advice and counseling to a full range of healthcare providers and related businesses.

Litigation

A significant portion of our regulatory/administrative litigation practice is aimed at helping clients mitigate the risk of investigation and prosecution through the development and implementation of compliance programs. Should litigation occur, however, our group includes seasoned trial lawyers, including former federal prosecutors, with experience at every level of the judicial system.

Leadership in Health Law Bar Activities

Our Health Practice members contribute to the body of knowledge in healthcare law, finance, and administration through active participation in various professional organizations such as:

• American Health Lawyers Association (AHLA)
• Health Law Sections of the American Bar Association and Various State Bar Association Health Law sections in the Mid-Atlantic Region
• American Academy of Hospital Attorneys
• Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA)
• Pennsylvania Society of Health Care Attorneys
• Food and Drug Law Institute
• Tax Sections of the American, Pennsylvania, and Philadelphia Bar Associations
• America's Health Insurance Plans

Several Saul Ewing attorneys have authored various articles and publications relating to the substantive and/or procedural aspects of healthcare law. Attorney articles are often published in national, regional, and industry publications, including Unique Opportunities: The Physician's Resource, Physician’s News Digest, and Update. Publications include:

• AHLA Managed Care Contracting Handbook (2004)
• ABA / BNA E-Health: Business & Transactional Law (2004, 2005 Supplement, 2006 Supplement)
• HIPAA Training Handbook For Pharmaceutical Sales Reps
• CME Training Handbook for Pharmaceutical Sales Reps
• Bringing Your Medical Device to Market

Experience

Corporate and Commercial

• Represented seller hospital in the first conversion of a non-profit hospital to for-profit status since the passage of the New Jersey Charitable Healthcare Assets Protection Act.
• Assisted numerous hospitals in joint ventures involving physicians, including the development of ASCs, medical office buildings, wellness centers and various types of outpatient facilities.
• Assisted an urban tertiary care hospital in expanding its geographic presence through the development and implementation of a collaborative arrangement with area cardiologists in cardiac imaging services.
• Assisted a community hospital in the development and implementation of an open heart surgery program through, among other things, an affiliation arrangement with an academic medical center and recruitment arrangements for certain key physicians.
• Assisted a home health services/DME company in establishing an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) which provided a vehicle for the purchase of the stock of a retiring shareholder.
• Assisted a large, multispecialty physician practice in expanding their ancillary services capabilities and developing a practice-wide compensation system to address these additional revenue streams in a manner consistent with federal and state laws and regulations.

Regulatory Advice and Counseling

• Represented all forms of health care facilities (both non-profit and for-profit) in licensing, accreditation and survey-related matters.
• Provided advice and counsel to hospitals, physicians and other providers regarding compliance with federal and state anti-kickback and physician self-referral statutes and regulations in connection with a broad range of commercial activities.
• Provided advice and counseling to hospitals, physicians and other providers regarding the interpretation of the HIPAA regulations and the implementation of the privacy and security rules under this body of regulation.

Litigation

• Defending subjects, targets or witnesses in government investigations
• Defending enterprises, corporations, officers, directors and other individuals at criminal or civil trial and/or on appeal
• Conducting internal investigations and assessing compliance risks
• Designing, implementing, and monitoring compliance programs, and resolving disputes with various regulatory agencies