AHLA's Speaking of Health Law

Jeff Sommer, Managing Director, Stroudwater Associates, speaks with Tom Waldrep, former United States Bankruptcy Judge with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, about how financial and operational distress affects rural hospital partnerships and why strategic drift destroys value and jeopardizes strategic options. They discuss the early warning signs of distress that could lead to bankruptcy...

Tom Donohoe, Shareholder, Hall Render Killian Heath & Lyman PC, Kelly Adams, Region General Counsel, Intermountain Health, and Barb Grandjean, Partner, Husch Blackwell LLP, discuss the various labor and employment considerations that are present in health care transactions, with a focus on the current M&A environment. They cover issues related to pre-due diligence, due diligence, the transaction itself, and integration. Tom...

Rob Gerberry, Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, Summa Health, speaks with Michael Peregrine, Partner, McDermott Will & Emery, about the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s recent release of its new white collar criminal enforcement plan and the board’s oversight responsibility for corporate compliance with the law. They discuss how the new plan relates to governance, the government’s current approach to healt...

Operation Brace Yourself, a massive 2019 Department of Justice operation involving the durable medical equipment (DME) industry, was one of the largest health fraud enforcement actions in history and had major legal and compliance repercussions for DME companies. In this two-part series, Stephen Lee, Solo Practitioner, Law Office of Stephen Chahn Lee, recounts the true story of two DME owners who unwittingly found themselves in the...

Operation Brace Yourself, a massive 2019 Department of Justice operation involving the durable medical equipment (DME) industry, was one of the largest health fraud enforcement actions in history and had major legal and compliance repercussions for DME companies. In this two-part series, Stephen Lee, Solo Practitioner, Law Office of Stephen Chahn Lee, recounts the true story of two DME owners who unwittingly found themselves in the...

In a groundbreaking development for the digital health world, Eli Lilly, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, has filed lawsuits against a growing number of telehealth companies over the sale of compounded drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound, two popular GLP-1 medications. Nawa Lodin, Associate, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, and Lauren Petrin, Associate, Wiley Rein, discuss the background of compounding and when it ...

Jackie Selby, Partner, Epstein Becker & Green PC, Maria Nikol, CEO, Revelar Analytics LLC, and Karen Mandelbaum, Senior Counsel, Epstein Becker & Green PC, discuss current trends and developments related to price transparency. They cover why price transparency is important; provide an overview of the hospital transparency rule and the transparency in coverage rule for health plans; and detail how the rules are impacting pro...

Linda A. Michler, Arbitrator and Mediator, speaks with Christopher C. Murray, Partner, Ogletree Deakins, about arbitration in the health care employment space. They discuss how arbitration works; the strengths and weaknesses of arbitration; and issues related to selecting an arbitrator, cost, mediation, class action waivers, and mass arbitration. They also discuss special considerations related to health care employment arbitration...

Andrew Mahler, Vice President of Privacy and Compliance Services, Clearwater, speaks with Kathleen Healy, Partner, Robinson Cole, and Robert Martin, Senior Legal Counsel, Mass General Brigham, about how health care compliance teams can build effective governance models, monitor legal risks, and prepare for enforcement activity related to artificial intelligence (AI). They discuss how to build an effective AI oversight framework and...

Gerald (Jud) DeLoss, CEO, Illinois Association for Behavioral Health, Tania Archer, Counsel, Moore & Van Allen, Allison Petersen, General Counsel, INTEGRIS Health, and David Shillcutt, Partner, Epstein Becker & Green, discuss hot topics in behavioral health, including trends in managed care behavioral health, federal and state funding for behavioral health, and school-based crisis programs. Jud was Faculty Chair, and Tania,...

As ransomware attacks grow more sophisticated, health care organizations face not just massive data privacy risks, but real-time threats to operations, patient safety, and regulatory compliance. Dave Bailey, Vice President of Security Services, Clearwater, speaks with Kirk Nahra, Partner, Wilmer Hale, and Paul Schmeltzer, Member, Clark Hill, about how ransomware impacts everything from hospital workflows to enforcement actions, and...

Medicare Advantage (MA) is one of the most popular insurance programs for the Medicare-eligible population, however it faces significant headwinds from both payer and provider organizations. Alan Lassiter, Principal, ECG Management Consultants, speaks with Christine Worthen, Member, Epstein Becker & Green PC, and Joe Mangrum, Partner, ECG Management Consultants, about the current state of MA, the complex issues confronting both...

Omenka Nwachukwu, Principal Consultant, Privacy and Compliance, Clearwater, speaks with Kaitlyn O'Connor, Co-Founder and Partner, Elevare Law, about the growth in state privacy laws covering wide ranges of health data and how digital health companies are being impacted. They discuss the role state legislation is playing in addressing gaps left by federal health care privacy laws, how state privacy laws are going beyond the Hea...

Joe Wolfe, Attorney, Hall Render Killian Heath & Lyman PC, speaks with Crane Pomerantz, Member, Clark Hill PLC, about the current landscape of health care fraud and abuse investigations. They discuss government enforcement under the previous administration, notable recent settlements, and enforcement priorities under the current administration. Clark is the author of AHLA Health Care Fraud and Abuse Investigations Handbook, Thi...

Rob Gerberry, Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, Summa Health, speaks with Michael Peregrine, Partner, McDermott Will & Emery, about the concept of “refreshment” and how health care systems can use this concept to effectively address board turnover. They discuss various refreshment tools such as director removal, term limits, mandatory retirement, evaluation mechanisms, director offboarding, and fitness to serve, as...

Alé Dalton, Partner, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP, speaks with Marlene Zieah, Attorney, Hall Render Killian Heath & Lyman PC, and Maverick Flowers, Associate, Polsinelli PC, about their experiences as tax lawyers in the health care space and how to get into this area. Marlene and Maverick share what led them to tax law, the ins-and-outs of pursuing a Tax LLM, misconceptions about practicing in this area, the intersection of...

In March, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) withdrew the Richardson Waiver, a policy under which HHS voluntarily undertook notice-and-comment rulemaking in circumstances where it wouldn’t otherwise need to. HHS also issued a new Statement of Organization for the Office of the General Counsel (HHS-OGC), which, among other things, may signal an effort to consolidate and expand HHS-OGC’s authority. Jaime Jones, Partner...

Community Health Network, Inc. of Indiana (CHN) entered into an agreement with the Department of Justice (DOJ) in December 2023 to settle alleged violations of the False Claims Act. The settlement amount of $345 million was the largest settlement of its kind in history. Dave Hesselink, Managing Principal, SullivanCotter, A.J. Orille, Consulting Principal, SullivanCotter, and Mark Ryberg, Practice Leader, Physician Workforce, Sulliv...

Artificial intelligence (AI) adoption is skyrocketing across the health care industry and innovation is booming, but regulation is struggling to keep pace. Dennis Breen, Managing Partner, Source 1 Healthcare Solutions, speaks with Alicia Shickle, President and CEO, ProCode Compliance Solutions, David Bolden, Senior Health Care Compliance Consultant, and Lyman Sornberger, CEO, Lyman Healthcare Solutions, about how the health care in...