State and federal oversight agencies actively monitor healthcare providers through routine inspections, data mining, and targeted fraud investigations. When an agency faces scrutiny, experienced legal intervention is critical to limit liability, negotiate corrective action, and prevent license revocation. 

We defend healthcare clients before regulatory bodies, including: 

• Audit Defense: Representing providers in audits, payment recoupment actions, and pre-payment reviews conducted by OMIG, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and private MLTC plans. 

• Enforcement and Compliance Actions: Defending against alleged violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute, Stark Law, false claims allegations, and patient referral improprieties. 

• DOH Surveys and Deficiency Citations: Assisting providers in responding to Statement of Deficiencies (SOD) reports, drafting viable Plans of Correction (POC), and resolving licensing enforcement proceedings. 

• Patient Privacy and HIPAA: Advising on data privacy incidents, electronic health record (EHR) safeguards, mandatory breach notifications, and Office for Civil Rights (OCR) inquiries under HIPAA/HITECH regulations. 

Healthcare transactions are fundamentally different from ordinary commercial deals; they require precise structural maneuvers to comply with strict state ownership limits, corporate practice of medicine rules, and certificate of need (CON) requirements. 

Our corporate healthcare practice assists providers with: 

• Mergers, Acquisitions, and Sales: Structuring and negotiating asset and equity purchases of LHCSAs, SADCs, and clinical practices, including regulatory due diligence and DOH approval filings. 

• Operating and Shareholder Agreements: Drafting bespoke partnership and operating agreements tailored to healthcare entities, addressing voting thresholds, capital requirements, deadlock mechanisms, and statutory restrictions on equity transfers. 

• Facility and Space Licensing: Negotiating commercial leases, timeshare license arrangements, and shared-services agreements compliant with healthcare anti-kickback safe harbors. 

• Joint Ventures and Strategic Alliances: Structuring compliant business relationships among healthcare providers, management companies, and ancillary service vendors. 

Healthcare is an intensely labor-driven industry, making providers frequent targets of employment-related claims. In New York, the intersection of standard employment regulations with industry-specific wage rules creates unique legal exposure. 

We partner with healthcare executives and human resources teams to: 

• Navigate 24-hour shift rules, live-in caregiver pay regulations, and the "13-hour rule" under New York Labor Law. 

• Defend providers against Department of Labor (DOL) audits and collective actions involving overtime calculations, uniform allowances, and spread-of-hours pay.

• Draft executive agreements, medical director contracts, and independent contractor agreements that withstand regulatory classification scrutiny. 

• Implement workplace policies, non-disclosure covenants, and patient non-solicitation protections for healthcare staff. 

When commercial disputes arise that cannot be resolved through administrative channels or informal negotiation, our trial attorneys step in to enforce rights and defend assets. We handle disputes between business partners, contract breaches with managed care plans, restrictive covenant enforcement, and vendor conflicts. We combine deep litigation capability with an understanding of healthcare operations, ensuring your matter is resolved without compromising ongoing patient services or regulatory standings.