PRACTICE AREAS

Eckert Seamans provides comprehensive legal services to health care industry clients in such areas as health system formation and integration, mergers and acquisitions, medical practice integration, hospital-physician joint ventures, tax exemption, fraud and abuse, Stark, credentialing, governance, general corporate and partnership matters, third party health care payor negotiations and contracting, physician recruitment, FDA issues, medical staff fair hearings, discipline and the National Practitioner Data Bank, licensing, H-1B visas, regulatory reviews, CONs, risk management, freestanding ambulatory centers, OIG and state Medicaid investigations, clinical trials, confidentiality and HIPAA, taxable/tax exempt joint ventures, ERISA, Medicare/Medicaid private HMO plans, antitrust, hospital affiliated physician practices and physician foundations, corporate and Medicare compliance, tax exempt bond financing, HUD loans, health care technology and medical devices, medical office buildings, rural hospitals, provider operations, regulatory and payor audits, disproportionate share payments, and workouts.

In addition to hospitals and physicians, our clients include nursing homes, chiropractors, professional health care associations and corporations, pharmaceutical companies, pharmacists, renal lithotripsy companies, educational associations and institutions, home health agencies, state hospital associations, mobile clinical labs, health care industry supply companies and medical practice and hospital management companies.  The firm also represents third party health care payors, employers and employer groups in matters relating to the delivery of managed health care services, and serves as general counsel to several health care provider associations.

Our attorneys frequently provide advice on:

• Institutional and physician third party payor reimbursement;
• Tax issues, including taxable and tax exemption matters like tax exempt bonds and hospital/physician joint ventures;
• Employment issues, ERISA and employee contracting, termination and benefits;
• Labor, including counseling on union organization and related matters;
• Antitrust issues, including mergers and acquisitions, market share issues, Hart-Scott-Rodino exemption, payor concerns and physician specialty concentration and integration negotiations;
• Government relations, with both federal and state legislators and agencies on pending legislation, regulations and other issues affecting the health care industry;
• Medical staff issues, including privileges applications, review, discipline, recredentialling and terminations, bylaws, rules and regulations, National Practitioner Data Bank and related legal matters; and
• Public finance matters.

In addition, our attorneys are experienced in such matters as right-to-die issues and “do not resuscitate” issues, AIDS related matters, professional and corporate negligence, informed consent, medical record confidentiality, nursing home reform, immigration, estate planning, product liability and intellectual property matters.

As a full-service law firm, our attorneys are skilled in the health care area as well as in other related areas of the law.  Through our Health Law Practice, our firm has proven its ability to respond successfully to the diverse needs of health care providers and others in the health care industry.