Hospitals, Health Systems, and Academic Medical Centers

Williams Mullen partners with in-house counsel at hospitals, health systems, and academic medical centers to address the full range of regulatory, operational, strategic, and transactional matters facing acute care providers. We have significant, broad-based experience in federal and state regulatory issues, including Medicare reimbursement rules, fraud and abuse laws, and Certificate of Public Need (COPN)/Certificate of Need (CON) matters.

Our health care team’s representation of health care providers is complemented by the experience of colleagues in other practices throughout the firm, who are adept at antitrust analysis, commercial litigation, employment issues, intellectual property matters, and tax advice, among many other areas.

We have partnered with many of our clients for decades and pride ourselves in understanding our clients’ business models, the competitive marketplace, and our role as strategic advisors.

Strategy

We help hospitals, health systems, and academic medical centers develop a strategic approach to relationships with other providers, navigate strategic decisions such as service line and facility development, and manage payor relationships.

COPN/CON

Our COPN/CON practice melds our knowledge of the health care industry with our experience in helping clients develop and implement competitive strategies. COPN/CON laws are important tools for providers, both offensively and defensively. When strategically utilized, COPN/CON laws enable providers to respond to current needs, position themselves for further growth, ensure the viability of highly used services, and, from a competitive perspective, contain duplicative or unnecessary proliferation of new services and facilities.

Our attorneys who focus on COPN/CON matters bring together clinical, policy, legal, and business acumen to help clients develop and implement thoughtful, effective COPN/CON strategies.

Services include:

• Developing strategy and drafting applications
• Navigating the COPN/CON administrative process
• Tracking and advising on COPN/CON opportunities
• Litigating contested COPN/CON matters
• Assisting with COPN/CON reporting requirements
• Advising on material compliance requests
• Assisting with no-review filings
• Developing opposition strategies

Reimbursement

We help health care providers understand and leverage complex reimbursement rules, manage risk, maintain a more consistent revenue stream, and have the necessary resources to meet the needs and manage the costs of their expanding health care populations.

Our experience includes:

• Compliance with Medicare and Medicaid billing rules
• Advice on structuring facilities and transactions consistently with reimbursement regulations
• Reimbursement disputes
• Advice on payor contracting

Regulatory

Our attorneys provide counsel to hospitals, health systems, and academic medical centers on critical aspects of the health care regulatory framework, including:

• COPN/CON
• Facility licensure and accreditation
• Professional licensure, including disciplinary matters
• Stark Law, Anti-Kickback Statute, and similar state laws
• Corporate Practice of Medicine (CPOM)
• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) advice and audits
• Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) reporting
• False Claims Act (FCA) advice and defense

Contracts

We negotiate and draft agreements that help to protect health care providers’ vital interests. Our attorneys have become so efficient and cost-effective in this area that in-house counsel ask us to handle significant contract overflow situations.

Our contracts experience includes:

• Ambulatory Surgical Centers (ASCs)
• Anesthesia
• Call coverage
• Cancer care
• Clinical services
• Construction
• Food services
• IT contracting
• Neonatology
• Neurosurgical
• Professional services agreements
• Physician services
• Radiology
• Telemedicine

Additional Services

Our health care lawyers work closely with colleagues in a variety of practices, including antitrust, employment, employee benefits, real estate, corporate, tax, IP, litigation, immigration, and government contracts, to address the complete spectrum of health care providers’ legal needs.