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Healthcare & Human Services Law

Providing primary and specialist legal care and counseling

The Healthcare and Human Services Law Practice Group is an interdisciplinary practice group providing comprehensive representation to clients engaged in health care, education and other fields of human services. Whether you need a “primary care” attorney to handle all of your legal needs, or a referral to a “specialist” for a complex issue, our attorneys use their collective skills to provide innovative yet practical representation. Our attorneys are knowledgeable in all aspects of federal and state law governing the operation, regulation, and financing of healthcare and human services facilities. Members of the Healthcare and Human Services Law Practice Group often work in conjunction with members of the Firm’s other specialized practice groups, including those with knowledge and experience in the areas of employment, real estate, tax-exempt financing, tax and estate planning, environmental law and government relations, as individual client needs require.

We have significant knowledge and experience in Certificate of Need proceedings as well as licensure and certification matters affecting all types of healthcare facilities and human services providers. Our attorneys have considerable experience representing providers in licensure and certification matters before the Office of Health Care Access and other divisions of the Department of Public Health, and have handled licensure matters before the Department of Children and Families and the Department of Developmental Services. We are familiar with federal and state reimbursement and funding for human services facilities, including Medicare and Medicaid, and represent clients in reimbursement audits and hearings contesting reimbursement rates. Our knowledge of Medicare and Medicaid fraud and abuse and Stark compliance requirements allows us to counsel our clients in structuring contractual and other business relationships. We also advise clients regarding compliance with the requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the privacy and security regulations associated therewith, as well as the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (“HITECH”). We also have specific experience in the representation of healthcare facilities sponsored by or affiliated with religious organizations.

We are skilled in professional credentialing, due process proceedings, including peer review matters, the implementation of restriction of privileges and required reporting and disclosure to the Department of Public

Health, the National Practitioner Data Bank and third-party payer organizations. We have provided representation in numerous credentialing proceedings and internal institutional due process prosecutions related to professional rights in accordance with industry standards, the Healthcare Quality Improvement Act (HCQIA) and the statutory and case law controlling these issues in Connecticut. We have also provided representation in connection with remediation and discipline of graduate medical education program participants. We are well versed in corporate governance and medical staff by-laws, rules and regulations, liability issues, and insurance coverage matters pertaining to professional rights.

The Firm represents individual human services professionals in all types of matters, including the organization of professional corporations (including shareholder buy/sell agreements and employment agreements), the negotiation of employment, provider, participation and other service agreements with hospitals, surgical facilities, health maintenance organizations and other providers, and personal tax and estate planning. This representation extends to the purchase, financing and/or leasing of office space and major medical equipment.

The Firm has experience in all aspects of the development, construction and financing of human services facilities, including the formation of corporations, limited partnerships and joint ventures, conventional and tax exempt financing, zoning, land use and environmental permitting.

The Firm has particular knowledge and experience in all aspects of federal and state law governing the formation and operation of nonprofit and tax exempt organizations, including applications for tax exempt status, the laws governing endowment funds, the disposition of charitable funds upon the dissolution or merger of a tax exempt organization, the formation of for-profit subsidiaries and the operation of charitable foundations. The Firm has had extensive dealings with the Public Charities Unit of the Office of the Attorney General in connection with its review of transactions involving charitable organizations.

The firm has routinely provided comprehensive representation in connection with the purchase and sale of health care and human services facilities, as well as more complex matters involving mergers, consolidations, restructurings, conversions, joint ventures and affiliations of health care facilities and institutions. In this regard, we have been at the forefront of numerous notable transactions and matters in the State of Connecticut. We represented the purchaser in the first for-profit conversion of a non-profit acute-care hospital, Sharon Hospital in Sharon, Connecticut. We handled all aspects of the acquisition, including negotiation of the purchase and sale agreement and drafting the notice of the proposed transaction in accordance with the State's Conversion Act. We represented the purchaser through the public hearing and statutory approval process, the licensure and certification processes before various federal, state and local agencies, and the closing of the purchase and sale transaction.

Our experience has also allowed us to establish excellent working relationships with various federal and state agencies and departments including the State of Connecticut Department of Public Health (and the Office of Health Care Access Division thereof ), Department of Social Services, Department of Children and Families, Department of Consumer Protection, Department of Developmental Services, Department of Education, and Department of Insurance, and the United States Food and Drug Administration and Department of Health and Human Services, including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

We serve a diverse group of institutional and individual clients, including:

  • Acute-care and specialty hospitals
  • Colleges and universities
  • Health maintenance organizations and other insurers
  • Integrated delivery systems
  • Nursing homes
  • Private physician practices Behavioral health providers Residential treatment centers
  • Outpatient surgical facilities and imaging centers Physical therapy and rehabilitation centers Ambulance and medical transport companies Individual practice associations
  • Individual medical practitioners
  • Med spas Occupational schools Private schools
  • Group homes for the developmentally disabled
  • Child day care centers

Our attorneys are also active in a variety of professional organizations, including the American Health Lawyers Association, the Health Law Section of the Connecticut Bar Association and the Connecticut Health Lawyers Association. Our attorneys have served on a variety of special advisory committees established by the Department of Public Health and the Office of Health Care Access, including those related to data collection and the regulation and operation of outpatient surgical facilities and imaging centers.