Health Care

Robinson Bradshaw’s Health Care Practice Group comprises an interdisciplinary team of attorneys with the broad range of experience required to advise participants across today’s complex health care environment. Our health care clients have seamless and cost-effective access to the firm’s knowledge in all areas affecting the operation of their businesses, including corporate transactions, regulatory, litigation, real estate, employment, intellectual property, technology and tax. We call upon this experience to serve a diverse group of clients, including Advocate Health (the combination of Atrium Health and Advocate Aurora Health), Fresenius Medical Care North America, InterWell Health, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, Deerfield Management Co., Labcorp, Lumexa Imaging (formerly US Radiology), and regional medical practices like Horizon Eye Care and REACH Fertility.

In these client engagements, we routinely counsel on health care industry transactions (providing comprehensive corporate, regulatory and tax support for acquisitions, dispositions, affiliations, investments and joint ventures) and handle matters involving corporate practice of medicine, federal and state fraud and abuse compliance (including the Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute), value-based care, health care IT, telehealth, referral source contracting and health care privacy (including HIPAA). We also proudly represent entrepreneurs, startups and established industry participants pursuing a wide range of innovative ventures and novel care delivery and coordination activities aimed at improving population health, equity and access to care. 

We also regularly represent health care clients in health care litigation and government inquiries and investigations. Recently, we have represented health systems facing class actions concerning alleged surprise charges related to emergency room care. We have also recently represented health systems in ERISA class actions and in high-stakes disputes with physician groups who provide exclusive physician services to those systems. Our litigation and investigations work has been on behalf of physician groups, health systems and insurers in a variety of health care contexts, in internal investigations and in response to government inquiries and whistleblower complaints.

We serve a variety of industry stakeholders, including:

• Hospitals and health systems
• Physician practices
• Specialty providers, including laboratories and providers of dialysis, home health, long-term care, diagnostic imaging and medical products
• MSOs and other health care management companies (including with respect to value-based care)
• Commercial insurers
• Business ventures between providers to own and operate health plans
• Accountable care organizations and clinically integrated networks
• Pharmaceutical, pharma-contracting and genomics companies
• Investors, commercial lenders and underwriters in the health care industry
• Health care technology providers and vendors

We help clients with a broad range of legal needs, including:

• Acquisition and joint venture structuring and negotiation
• Due diligence for acquisitions and audits
• Regulatory compliance
• HIPAA and privacy compliance
• General litigation (including employment litigation) and government and internal investigations
• Internal governance
• Provider employment and affiliations
• Physician practice organization and management
• Value-based care structuring and compliance
• ACO, CIN, MSO and PHO formation and operation
• Medical staff credentialing and peer review
• Antitrust counseling
• Retirement and benefit plans
• Financing (including tax-exempt bonds), capital raises and reorganizations
• Real estate and zoning
• Tax-exemption compliance

Mergers and Acquisitions

• Serve as lead counsel to an international public health care company in the closing of hundreds of dialysis clinic acquisitions and divestitures, physician practice acquisition and management transactions, strategic minority investments and care coordination activities.

• Served as lead counsel for a large North Carolina health system in its acquisition, affiliation, investment in and/or management of multiple strategic hospital partners.

• Represented an international public health care company in its $2 billion acquisition of a home dialysis equipment maker.

• Serve as transaction and health care regulatory counsel to a national radiology and diagnostic imaging platform in its acquisitions and divestitures of centers in multiple states.

• Represented an international public health care company’s $385 million acquisition of a nationwide 30-facility vascular access business involving substantial business restructuring including joint ventures, management services organizations and employment arrangements.

• Represented a national operator of retirement communities in the sale of eight communities in four states to a publicly traded real estate investment trust.

• Represented a North Carolina medical practice providing infertility services in a sale of their practice to a private equity-backed fertility company structured through a management services organization arrangement.

• Represented a payor-private equity joint venture in its acquisition of a regional management services organization supporting a network of primary care and behavioral health and wellness practices.

Venture Capital

• Represent a health care venture capital fund in connection with a variety of early-to-later stage investments in health care companies.

• Represent a private equity and venture capital fund in a number of its portfolio company equity investments in health care companies.

Joint Ventures and Affiliations

• Serve as lead counsel to an international public health care company in the closing of hundreds of joint venture transactions, including dialysis clinic joint ventures, vascular access joint ventures and cardiac cath lab joint ventures.

• Formed ESRD accountable care organizations in 24 major markets throughout the United States to participate in the CMS ESRD Seamless Care Organization and Comprehensive Kidney Care Contracting models.

• Represented a large health system in its affiliation arrangements with an international consumer electronics business to co-develop home health technologies and other services.

• Formed a joint venture between kidney care and primary care management companies to enter into value-based care arrangements for chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease patients.

• Represented two large physician practices in the Carolinas in the formation of separate joint ventures to monetize proprietary technology and services to be marketed to physician practices throughout the United States.

• Represented an international public health care company in its efforts to partner with a North Carolina health care system to improve costs and quality of care for end-stage renal disease by developing and implementing a local care model, an integrated care network and a Medicare Advantage Chronic Special Needs Plan.

• Represented a large orthopedic practice in structuring a joint venture to provide management services to orthopedic practices and hospital orthopedic service lines across the country.

Regulatory and Compliance

• Provide compliance counseling to hospitals and health systems and ancillary service providers in connection with federal and state fraud and abuse matters and surprise billing matters.

• Led health care due diligence review and analysis on behalf of an international public health care company for its $2 billion acquisition of a home dialysis equipment maker.

• Assisted a large North Carolina health system and its multiple affiliated hospitals with compliance self-audits, acquisition due diligence, corrective actions and self-reporting, culminating in favorable resolutions under the CMS Stark Self-Referral Disclosure Protocol.

• Conduct regulatory analysis for an international public health care company examining permitted parameters of physician ownership in equity joint ventures across the U.S. and recommend deal structure and best practices to address state-specific regulatory considerations.

• Assessed the regulatory compliance of ESRD accountable care organizations with the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, the federal Stark self-referral law and CMS waivers issued thereunder.

• Represent a leading biologics firm in frequent regulatory investigations concerning compliance with state and FDA regulations, licensure requirements and disability accommodation laws.

• Counsel and advise various health care provider clients on corporate practice of medicine rules, fee splitting, and other state regulatory and licensing requirements, and the development of state-specific management service organization structures.

• Structured a value-based care enterprise between a hospital system and an affiliated medical practice to participate in governmental, Medicare Advantage and private insurer value-based care initiatives. 

• Counsel on federal and state telehealth laws and regulations as well as licensure requirements for health care professionals involved in the administration of telehealth.

Litigation and Employment Matters

• Represent a large North Carolina health system in a class action alleging one of its hospitals routinely overcharges uninsured patients for emergency room care.

• Represent a large North Carolina health system in actions brought by physicians and other professionals alleging breach of employment contracts and wrongful termination of employment.

• Represented a leading biologics firm in a case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit involving a question of first impression concerning application of the Americans with Disabilities Act to FDA-mandated donor eligibility decisions.

• Counsel various health care provider clients on a full range of employment law matters, including preparing and negotiating employment and independent contractor agreements; advising on day-to-day employment and human resource matters; and defending employment litigation and administrative charges before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, state and local deferral agencies, and federal and state departments of labor.

• Represented a public health care system in successfully resolving a federal investigation regarding North Carolina’s Disproportionate Share Hospital Program.

• Represented a regional hospital system and its executives in an action brought by a physician alleging termination in violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and alleging multiple violations of North Carolina law.

Health Care Privacy and Security

• Counsel a range of health care providers and health care IT, m-health, portal and medical payment companies on HIPAA and general telehealth compliance.

• Counseled a large North Carolina health system with the rollout of an innovative wellness program focused on population health management, with the health system and local employers partnering to provide access to an existing licensed portal technology and offering the portal and other programming and resources to its own employee subscribers.

Honors & Recognitions

• Chambers USA, health care, 2014-25
• Best Law Firms, Charlotte Tier 1 for health care law, 2011-26

News

Events

Publications