Physicians / Medical Staff

Physician Recruitment and Retention

In a changing health care industry, hospitals and other providers face increased financial pressures to maintain and enhance revenue streams. At the same time, hospitals and physicians are recognizing the mutual advantages that come from close affiliation. As a result, institutions continue to pursue and expand their recruitment and retention programs. These programs range from more traditional recruitment methods such as loans, income guarantees, office and equipment leases and practice management and marketing assistance to physician practice acquisitions, provider hospital organization (“PHO”) development and other forms of vertical integration. These arrangements must be very carefully structured to reduce legal exposure under antitrust, anti-kickback and tax exemption and designed with sensitivity to restrictions emanating from securities laws, the corporate practice of medicine restrictions, ethical constraints on physicians and other legal and regulatory constraints. Representative projects include

• Design and implementation of a hospital system’s physician recruitment and retention program.
• Counseling to restructure physician reimbursement under a medical faculty practice plan.
• Advising a hospital regarding “Stark”, anti-kickback and tax exemption issues associated with a physician office building initiative.
• Reviewing numerous physician contracts and recruitment/retention programs in connection with major corporate transactions such as sale of hospitals, hospital tax-exempt financings, hospital mergers, acquisitions and sales. 

Medical Staff Bylaws and Credentialing

Attorneys in the Health Law Practice Area are experienced in drafting and revising medical staff bylaws, policies and procedures. The Practice Area has provided counsel in connection with a number of medical staff matters, including hospital-physician disputes regarding medical staff matters, managed care-related credentialing issues and disputes, and represented both institutions and physicians in due process hearings and civil litigation pertaining thereto. We have also assisted physicians forming independent practice associations (“ IPAs”) in developing an appropriate credentialing mechanism to minimize the IPA’s exposure from both a tort and an antitrust perspective. Members of the Practice Area are currently counseling a hospital in its endeavor to implement an interdisciplinary approach to internal quality control and peer review.  

Professional Membership Associations

Attorneys in the Practice Area and the firm have a long tradition of serving as general and special counsel to national, state and local associations of health care professionals and health care organizations. As general counsel, the firm is responsible for the client’s complete legal needs, including internal organizational and maintenance issues, as well as the many legal implications of an association’s interface with the health care industry and various governmental bodies.

Health care attorneys regularly work with association clients in defining appropriate categories of membership, evaluating membership applicants and formulating disciplinary procedures to assess the continuing qualifications of members. The firm’s health care lawyers also advise association clients on the contractual and other legal implications of conducting education programs, which may include scientific exhibits, and publishing professional and scientific journals and newsletters. The firm has successfully represented association clients in major litigation in the state and federal courts and before the Federal Trade Commission. The firm’s health care attorneys have acted as lead counsel in the industry-wide investigation of the medical profession by the Federal Trade Commission. The firm has also represented association clients in major litigation challenging codes of ethics, standard setting and accreditation programs. Because professional membership associations are by definition combinations of competitors drawn together to further mutual goals, their activities frequently implicate the antitrust laws. The in-depth knowledge that the firm’s health care attorneys have of the health care industry and its legal environment enables them to effectively counsel and defend their clients in this sometimes hostile environment. Members of the Practice Area have, for example, counseled the firm’s professional association clients on how to go about developing statistical reporting programs, information exchange systems, and fee and price surveys. 

Standard Setting, Certification and Accreditation Programs

The Health Law Practice Area represents many clients who perform a unique and increasingly important role of setting standards for professional competence in the health care field. These clients include certifying boards, licensing agencies, accrediting bodies and various professional associations seeking to establish and enforce codes of ethics. In addition to its antitrust experience, the Practice Area has unusual capabilities in interpreting the law as it applies to the design and implementation of tests to measure competence.

The firm has assisted many clients in developing and implementing programs to evaluate health care provider competence and to accredit various operations within health care facilities. In addition, the firm frequently advises clients on conflict-of-interest policies and other means to avoid antitrust liability arising from competitor involvement in standard setting.

Show all attorneys in this practice