Practice Areas

Health Care Law

Barrett McNagny began providing legal services to health care providers before health care became formally recognized as a practice area of law. Today, health care represents a major industry in our country, and attorneys in our Health Care Group concentrate on the legal needs of health care institutions and providers.

We provide services to a variety of healthcare providers, including physicians, physician groups, physician networks, hospital medical staff, hospital/physician networks, ambulatory surgery centers, preferred provider organizations, community mental health centers, and liability insurance carriers.

Health Care Regulatory and Administrative Matters

The health care industry is heavily regulated, both at the federal and state levels. Our experienced attorneys routinely counsel clients on various regulatory and statutory issues:

Affordable Care Act
Concepts of private inurement and private benefit
Compensation structures
Fraud and abuse laws that generally fall into one of three broad categories which prohibit:
- the submission of false, fraudulent, or misleading claims to any government entity or third-party payor.
- the use of kickbacks or other payments in exchange for referrals.
- referrals of Medicare/Medicaid patients for certain designated health services by a physician to an entity with which the physician or the physician's immediate family member(s) have a financial relationship.
Anti-kickback law and safe harbor regulations
Third-party billing companies
Health care fraud and abuse compliance programs
Ambulatory surgery centers
Quality Assurance and Utilization Review
Peer review
National Practitioner Data Bank
Health Care Quality Improvement Act
Advance directives; appointment of health care representative
Medical licensing
Medical record requirements, including confidentiality, retention, and computerization issues
HIPAA Privacy of Health Information Programs
Assignment and re-assignment of Medicare reimbursement
Billing for physician-extender services
Medical staff and credentialing matters
Physician recruitment agreements
Issues relating to professional courtesy

Health Care Corporate and Transactional Matters

Attorneys in our Health Care Group provide clients with a full range of corporate and transactional representation. We counsel all types of business entities, including corporations (such as c-corporations, s-corporations, and professional corporations), limited liability companies, partnerships, limited partnerships, limited liability partnerships, and sole proprietorships. We prepare and review various corporate documents including bylaws, operating agreements, stock purchase, and sale agreements, and employment agreements for physician and non-physician employees, such as physician assistants, registered nurses, clinical nurse specialists, and physical therapists. In addition, we have assisted in the negotiation of many managed care agreements between provider groups and payors.

We have particular experience and advise health care clients on various issues such as managed care, Medicare/Medicaid and third-party reimbursement, mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructuring, and joint ventures. Our antitrust and corporate securities law experience guides our clients in these complex areas of law. We have worked closely with single-specialty entities and have advised them on the advantages and disadvantages of various approaches including multi-specialty groups, independent practice associations, and for-profit and not-for-profit hospital/physician joint ventures.

Our experience also includes: advising employers and plans on issues and health benefits for employees and retirees; advising quality assurance/utilization review companies on increasing state regulation and contracting; and assessing potential liability exposure of managed care organizations and employers for provider credentialing and selection.

Medical Malpractice Litigation

The defense of medical malpractice has been a large part of our litigation practice for many years. Our attorneys have represented physicians, nurses, medical professionals, and health care organizations in every facet of malpractice and general health law litigation. We have extensive experience in defending cases all the way to trial and with other means of dispute resolution for lawsuits. Our attorneys have experience in the courtroom and have appeared before state and federal courts, and before licensing organizations.

Employment Law & Litigation

In addition to attorneys who are very experienced in the defense of medical liability cases, Barrett McNagny has experienced and highly respected trial lawyers who represent health care employers in a variety of contexts, such as premises liability, workers' compensation, and general personnel and human resource issues, and non-competition litigation. Additionally, our attorneys defend and provide advice concerning wrongful discharge claims, employment discrimination claims, equal employment, and affirmative action obligations. Our attorneys also prepare and review personnel policies and programs, such as employee handbooks, drug testing programs, and other procedures, and have the ability to handle both simple and complex commercial and regulatory litigation.