- Practices
- Health Law
Our health care lawyers are passionate about the industry and have decades of experience advising for-profit and non-profit providers, insurers, biotechnology companies and other clients facing complex legal, regulatory and business issues. Well known for our industry knowledge, experience, quality, integrity and advocacy, our team is tightly knit, deeply experienced, and capable of deploying the right resources to assist you in a highly efficient and cost-effective manner.
The health care practice at Shipman has been ranked in Band 1 by Chambers USA America’s Leading Lawyers for Business 2022, the nation’s preeminent guide to law firms and individual lawyers.
For more than 75 years, we have provided informed, proactive representation to hospitals, academic medical centers, hospital systems, integrated health networks, community-based providers, behavioral health agencies, substance-use disorder providers, federally qualified health centers, home health agencies, skilled nursing facilities, life-science companies, retail pharmacies and insurers.
Healthcare Regulatory and Compliance
Corporate compliance is the cornerstone of our health law practice. With our vast experience, we work with clients to develop and implement risk-management programs and guidance that help create an effective compliance culture. From conducting Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute audits and analyses, to helping align compliance and business strategies, we regularly advise on the full range of federal and state regulatory matters.
HIPAA and Privacy
We know the challenges involved in maintaining the confidentiality of patient information and ensuring compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). In addition to advising clients on HIPAA’s Privacy, Security and Breach Notification rules, as well as the establishment of health information exchanges, electronic health record systems and donation programs, we provide counsel on related federal regulations, including matters involving substance abuse treatment (42 CFR Part 2) and related state privacy laws. When a breach occurs, we help clients mount an effective response, mitigate risk, conduct internal investigations, and respond to inquiries and investigations from law enforcement authorities and the media.
Healthcare Transactions
Healthcare transactions are complex and must comply with a large number of regulatory requirements and address a host of ongoing, day-to-day operational concerns. To achieve long-term business success, guidance from experienced corporate and regulatory counselors is essential. We counsel clients at every step of a transaction, from initial strategy development negotiation, through the closing of the deal.
Experience
Global health matters
Inadequate Medicaid Reimbursement
We represented the Community Health Center Association of Connecticut (CHC/ACT) and other Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) in connection with pursuing Medicaid change in scope rate adjustment requests, including pursuing all administrative remedies and any settlement discussions or arbitrations relating to any rate adjustment denial. Connecticut’s Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) provide primary medical, dental, and behavioral health care to 440,000 people annually, and are required to serve all comers irrespective of income level or ability to pay. But many of these FQHCs face dire financial straits because the Connecticut Department of Social Services (DSS), contrary to its avowed mission, has persistently breached its legal duty to pay FQHCs statutorily compliant reimbursement rates for medical, dental, and behavioral healthcare services rendered to Medicaid beneficiaries. With underserved patients’ access to critical services imperiled, the Community Health Center Association of Connecticut (CHC/ACT), has begun the process of taking legal action to address DSS’s longstanding noncompliance. CHC/ACT’s petition seeks a declaratory ruling that federal and state law require DSS regularly to review and adjust FQHCs’ Medicaid rates to account for any changes in these FQHCs’ scope of services – all without the irrelevant analyses, pretextual denials, and undue delay that have characterized this rate-setting process until now. While specifically focused on Connecticut, the petition implicates legal principles of nationwide consequence. A link to CHC/ACT’s Press Release. In May, 2025, an agreement was reached as to the following: A three-year phase in of new rates, reflective of 2023 costs for each health center, beginning on October 1, 2025; a new “change in scope” process; change the appeals process for Federally Qualified Health Centers to align with other Medicaid providers beginning January 1, 2027; and withdrawal of the declaratory ruling request.
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