Academic Medical Centers

Sonnenschein's Health Care Group attorneys have extensive experience advising academic medical centers (AMCs) and their component medical schools, teaching hospitals, faculty practice plans, foundations, alliances, cooperatives, and group purchasing organizations (GPOs) on a wide variety of legal issues.  For example:

• The firm counsels AMCs with respect to Medicare, Medicaid and other federal and state health care programs.  This advice covers issues related to IME/GME, provider-based status, provider certification, provider conditions of participation, provider contracting, coverage and reimbursement (including appeals before the Provider Reimbursement Review Board), and EMTALA requirements.
• The firm handles sophisticated corporate transactions on behalf of AMCs, including mergers, divestitures, stock and asset acquisitions, affiliations, joint operating agreements and joint ventures.
• Sonnenschein attorneys help AMCs ensure that their various business arrangements, hospital-physician alignment strategies, contracts, marketing initiatives and investment strategies comply with federal and state anti-kickback, physician self-referral, reassignment, fee-splitting, beneficiary inducement, gainsharing, data privacy and security, and related laws and regulations.
• Health Care Group attorneys help AMCs develop and implement physician recruitment and retention strategies and initiatives in compliance with applicable fraud and abuse and IRS laws and regulations.
• The firm advises AMCs about the complex legal and regulatory issues relating to medical and behavioral research.  For example, Sonnenschein attorneys: (1) address NIH grant funding issues and assist with proactive grant compliance; (2) review and address clinical trial billing issues with an emphasis on devising operational tools to enhance communications among the AMC components; (3) counsel institutional review boards (IRBs) on compliance with the Common Rule, and draft IRB policies and procedures related to the same; (4) prepare clinical research, material transfer and other agreements; and (5) undertake an array of research program compliance audits, including audits relating to alleged research misconduct, compliance with human subject protection regulations and management of federal grant monies.
• Sonnenschein helps AMCs develop and implement policies and procedures designed to ensure that consulting, research, and other arrangements between faculty practice plan physicians and pharmaceutical and device manufacturers comply with all applicable laws and regulations.
• Sonnenschein attorneys defend AMCs in connection with administrative, civil and criminal audits, investigations and litigation, including actions alleging improper coding, billing, pricing and reimbursement, as well as actions involving alleged violations of federal and state anti-kickback, physician self-referral, and related laws and regulations.