Clinical Operations

• Advised hospitals in the drafting and revision of medical staff bylaws and rules and regulations.
• Drafted policies and procedures following statutory enactments and amendments, including HIPAA/HITECH, Family Health Care Decisions Act, telemedicine, Non-profit Revitalization Act, medical marijuana, e-prescribing/I-STOP, among others.
• Served as legal advisor to hospital Ethics Committees and Institutional Review Boards.

Compliance

• Counsel health care providers with regard to all aspects of corporate and regulatory compliance, including fraud and abuse issues, billing compliance, Stark self-referral laws, licensing and certificate of need, facility surveys, HIPAA and patient rights, representation before state and federal health care regulatory bodies and lobbying compliance.
• Defended medical professionals and facilities before the New York Justice Center, Office of Professions and Office of Professional Medical Conduct in matters involving alleged professional misconduct.
• Designed and implemented numerous corporate compliance programs.
• Defended nursing homes in Department of Health Administrative Hearings regarding appropriateness of patient discharge and alleged regulatory deficiencies.
• Provide ongoing advice and training to a large NYC based health care system, including its government relations staff and senior staff, on ethics and lobbying compliance to further enhance its compliance program.

Corporate

• Represented a physician-hospital organization in connection with its operationalization of a clinically integrated network.
• Represent a Performing Provider System in connection with its organization and participation in New York Medicaid Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment Program.
• Serve as outside general counsel to Cayuga Health System and its affiliates coordinating delivery of comprehensive legal services.

Cybersecurity

• We have worked with several hospitals and health care systems, nursing and assisted living centers and insurers to develop system security plans that comply with HIPAA, CMS Medicaid data and NY State’s OHIP 3.1 data protection standard.
• Performed HIPAA cyber assessments and audits.

Financing

• Served as Transaction Counsel for a leading orthopedic hospital that directly issued $350,000,000 aggregate principal amount of taxable bonds in an obligated group financing structure to fund its general capital needs and refinance certain bank lines of credit.
• Served as FHA Banker’s Counsel and GNMA Lender’s Counsel for a $133,585,100 multi-site, multi-health facilities GNMA guaranteed acquisition financing undertaken by the State of South Carolina health system involving a mortgage loan insured by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Hospital Facilities (“FHA”) pursuant to Section 223(f) of the National Housing Act.
• Served as Bond Counsel on a $135,845,000 tax-exempt FHA-insured Mortgage Revenue Bond issue for a major New York City tertiary care medical center.

Immigration

• Immigration Counsel for the largest public health care system in the U.S.
• Represent hospital clients with physician immigration cases for international medical graduates, here under the J-1 program, in obtaining waivers and transitioning to H-1B status.
• Handle large volume of Schedule A Nurse green cards for Hospital client.
• Advise and Update large Medical Center and Hospital clients on emergency measures due to COVID-19 that are implemented by Department of Labor and USCIS.
• Handle Consular Process and Visa issues for healthcare workers who are eligible for National Interest Exemptions to Travel bans.
• Successful practice in O-1 extraordinary ability visas for physicians and researchers.

Labor and Employment

• Represented multiple hospitals, nursing homes and health care systems in collective bargaining with unions representing registered nurses and other health care professionals.
• Successfully represented health care employers in arbitration matters involving disciplinary action and contract interpretation issues.
• Successfully represented health care employers in discrimination claims filed with the New York State Division of Human Rights and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
• Handled numerous matters before the National Labor Relations Board involving health care employers, including representation cases and alleged unfair labor practices.

Litigation

• Counsel to Professional Corporation and physician assistant in medical malpractice and negligence case involving alleged failure to diagnose a myocardial infarction.
• Counsel to hospital and physicians in Appellate Division, Fourth Department, successfully affirming summary judgment dismissing medical malpractice and ordinary negligence claims involving alleged failure to diagnose and treat appendicitis.
• Counsel to hospital and physicians in case involving medical malpractice, breach of patient confidentiality and breach of HIPAA claims, resulting in an award of summary judgment dismissing all claims.
• New York State Supreme Court, Suffolk County: Obtained defense verdict in medical malpractice action against surgeon for alleged failure and delay in diagnosing breast cancer.
• New York State Supreme Court, Nassau County: Obtained defense verdict in podiatric malpractice action against two podiatrists for alleged improper performance of surgery resulting in osteomyelitis.
• New York State Supreme Court, Westchester County: Obtained dismissal of medical malpractice action against emergency medicine physician for claims of improper treatment resulting in upper extremity amputation.
• New York State Supreme Court, Westchester County: Obtained dismissal of medical malpractice action against emergency medicine physician for claims of improper treatment.
• Conducted hundreds of guardianship and civil commitment proceedings.

Lobbying Compliance

Mergers and Acquisitions

• Advised Faxton-St. Luke’s Healthcare and St. Elizabeth Medical Center in the structuring of a Catholic/secular affiliation under a common active parent, including negotiating a unique and creative settlement with the Attorney General to address significant antitrust concerns raised as a result of the consolidation of the only two hospitals in Utica, New York.
• Advised Cayuga Medical Center at Ithaca in its affiliation with Schuyler Hospital under a common active parent to form Cayuga Health System.
• Represented an EMS provider in connection with the acquisition of all of the assets, including the operating territory of, another EMS provider.
• Represented a large regional health system in connection with the acquisition of a certified home health agency (CHHA), licensed home care services agency (LHCSA) and specialty pharmacy through a member substitution.
• Represented a care coordination organization in connection with its sale to a strategic buyer.

Real Estate

• Counsel to Catholic Health Services of Long Island advising on economic development projects and land use matters, including an expansion of Good Samaritan Hospital’s patient care pavilion in the Town of Islip, providing strategic consulting on regulatory issues and coordinating activities within the hospital network.
• Counsel to Mount Sinai South Nassau Communities Hospital on zoning, land use, economic development and environmental matters related to multiple expansion and new development projects, including a new addition to the hospital’s main campus in the Town of Hempstead, Oceanside and the construction of a new healthcare facility in the City of Long Beach, in compliance with SEQR guidelines and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation rules and regulations.