Steptoe & Johnson’s Health Care Practice Group has extensive experience helping health care providers achieve their goals. Firm lawyers work closely with administrators, chief executives, financial officers, boards, physicians and staff to provide the resources they need to make effective decisions and find cost effective solutions tailored to the needs of their organizations.

Firm clients include large hospitals and health systems, rural hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, physicians and physician groups, mental health facilities and health related businesses.

Specific examples of recent and significant representations include:

• Negotiation of health care contracts, such as recruiting and employment agreements
• Creation and organization of practice groups and other health care entities
• Medical staff privilege disputes

Areas of Practice

• Corporate and Transactional  
  Group members work with clients to write bylaws and facility policies, form entities, and solve governance and management issues. Lawyers help clients navigate the maze of regulatory approvals, as well as contractual arrangements with physicians, managed care providers, and service and equipment suppliers. The group structures acquisitions and sales of private physician practices, health care facilities and programs, hospital networks, affiliations, managed care arrangements, and group practices and address related tax issues.
• Medical Staff 
  The health care group's work involves medical staff bylaws preparation and review, physician credentialing and privileges, physician professional disciplinary hearings and judicial dispute resolution involving the foregoing.
• Medical / Ethical Issues 
  Lawyers provide counsel on ethical issues related to informed consent, drafting policies, confidentiality, medical records, advance directives, Do Not Resuscitate issues, withdrawal of life-support systems and health care surrogate decision-making.
• Financing 
  Team members represent health care facilities in financing and refinancing through private and public lenders and tax-exempt bonds.
• Regulatory Matters 
  The firm has taken an active approach to educating our clients on Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) issues and compliance. Lawyers regularly advise our clients on antitrust considerations relating to business transactions, provider relations and privilege disputes, and represent them in antitrust litigation. The firm provides guidance in obtaining and maintaining licenses. The frim represents health care providers in certificate of need proceedings, and rate making and licensure surveys and prepare plans of correction for survey deficiencies and appeals. Lawyers are experienced with Medicare and Medicaid fraud and abuse issues, self-referral limitations (Stark) and Medicaid audits.

Related Practices 
The firm's labor, professional liability, and government relations practices provide services to health care providers such as review and drafting of employment policies and handbooks, advice on ERISA and other benefits, insurance coverage issues, union campaigns, defense of labor and employment litigation, malpractice defense, quality assurance, workers' compensation, risk management and management of issues through the legislative process.

Representative Clients
United Hospital Center
Monongalia General Hospital
St. Joseph’s Hospital of Buckhannon
Stonewall Jackson Memorial Hospital
City Hospital