Fundamentals of Health Law

Jennifer Hutchens co-presented two sessions at the American Health Lawyers Association's "Fundamentals of Health Law" program. She was also a member of the program planning committee.

Jennifer's first session, "The Fundamentals of a Health Care Transaction," discussed:

• Different types of transaction structures for a health care deal (e.g., asset purchase versus stock purchase or merger)
• The framework for approaching due diligence in a health care transaction
• Regulatory and legal issues common to health care transactions (e.g., federal Anti-Kickback and Stark Laws, antitrust issues and tax-exempt issues)
• The importance of the concepts of "fair market value" and "commercial reasonableness" to a health care transaction
• Apply these strategies to a case study (physician-hospital integration), sample letter of intent and sample due diligence checklist to understand how various factual scenarios could affect the transaction and to highlight diligence and transactional considerations

Her second session, "Deeper Dive into Health Care Transactions: Adding Value in Deal Negotiations," covered:

• Further understanding of the roles of lawyers and other team members (e.g., compliance, operations, finance and business) in accomplishing health care transactions
• Practical guidance for recognizing and solving critical path items common in negotiations of health care transactions (e.g., indemnification)
• Best practices for "getting the deal done," including typical crisis points, expecting the unexpected and simple ways for everyone to add value all along the way