Eckert Seamans provides comprehensive legal services to our 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 law, credentialing, governance, general corporate and partnership matters, software and information technology contracting and licensing, third party health care payor negotiations and contracting, physician recruitment, Food & Drug Administration (FDA) issues, medical staff fair hearings, discipline and the National Practitioner Data Bank, professional licensure, H-1B visas, regulatory reviews, Certificate of Needs (CONs), risk management, freestanding ambulatory centers, Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and state Medicaid investigations, clinical trials, confidentiality and HIPAA matters, taxable/tax exempt joint ventures, Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), Medicare/Medicaid private payor plans, antitrust, hospital affiliated physician practices and physician foundations, corporate and Medicare compliance, tax exempt bond financing, HUD loans, medical devices, medical office buildings, rural hospitals, provider operations, regulatory and payor audits, disproportionate share payments, and workouts. Eckert Seamans provides both advice and representation in litigation on health care matters at the administrative, trial and appellate levels.

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, medical professional liability 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 state wide 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;
• Information technology contracting and licensing, with emphasis on patient, including HIPAA, financial and other confidential matters and security, system, server and other security issues;
• 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;
• 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 Care Group, we have proven its ability to respond successfully to the diverse needs of health care providers and others in the health care industry.