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Fundamentals of Health Care Law
Original Program Date :
- Speakers, session times and credit hours are subject to change.
Ethics | 
Professionalism | 
Trial Practice
- Presiding:
- Jeffrey M. “Jeff” Mustari, Program Chair; Partner, Southern Health Lawyers, LLC, Atlanta, GA
This content may include explicit material or language. Viewer discretion is advised. The intention is not to offend but to provide information. Proceed only if you are comfortable with potentially sensitive topics or language.
- 8:30
- INTRODUCTION
- Julia D. Neighbors, ICLE Director, State Bar of Georgia, Atlanta, GA
- 8:35
- WELCOME AND PROGRAM OVERVIEW
- Jeffrey M. “Jeff” Mustari
- 8:40
- FEDERAL HEALTHCARE REGULATIONS
- Grace P. Blood, Partner, Parker, Hudson, Rainer & Dobbs, LLP, Atlanta, GA
- Charlotte A. Combre, Partner, Baker & Hostetler, LLP, Atlanta, GA
- Robert M. “Rob” Keenan, III, Partner, King & Spaulding, LLP, Atlanta, GA
- 10:10
- CERTIFICATE OF NEED
- Kathlynn L. Butler Polvino, Founding Partner, Health Law Strategists, LLC, Atlanta, GA
- 10:40
- BREAK
- 10:50
- LONG-TERM CARE ISSUES
- Jordan S. Johnson, Partner, Hall Booth Smith, PC, Atlanta, GA
- 11:20
PROFESSIONALISM ISSUES IN MATTERS WITH STATE AGENCIES
William W. “Wright” Banks, Jr., Chief Deputy Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General, Atlanta, GA
Jeffrey M. “Jeff” Mustari
Michelle A. Williams, Senior Counsel, Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC, Atlanta, GA - 12:20
- LUNCH
- 1:05
- MEDICAL MALPRACTICE
- Daniel J. “Dan” Huff, Partner, Huff, Powell & Bailey, LLC, Atlanta, GA
- 1:35
- IN HOUSE COUNSEL PERSPECTIVE ON HEALTHCARE
- Sara L. “Lindsey” Lonergan, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, The Medical Center, Navicent Health, Macon, GA
- 2:05
- BREAK
- 2:15
- HEALTHCARE FRAUD AND ABUSE ENFORCEMENT UPDATE
- William D. Ezzell, Counsel, Baker & Hostetler, LLP, Atlanta, GA
- Nicole K. Nielly, Associate, Polsinelli, PC, Atlanta, GA
- 3:15
- COMPLIANCE ISSUES FOR HEALTHCARE ORGANIZATIONS
- Rachel L. King, Partner, Health Law Strategists, LLC, Atlanta, GA
- 4:15
- ADJOURN
Description vOD2, Brochure v1
Mr. Jeffrey Michael Mustari, Southern Health Lawyers LLC
Jeffrey M. Mustari is the senior Partner at Southern Health Lawyers focusing on various health care corporate, regulatory and compliance issues, including fraud and abuse, Certificate of Need, administrative law and ERISA based payment disputes. After graduating from Emory University with a B.A., Jeff earned his Juris Doctor degree from Georgia State University School of Law in 2009. Jeff has since become licensed as an attorney in Georgia and Florida. Jeff shares his time between the Atlanta, Georgia office and Jacksonville, Florida office and is a member of the Health Law Sections of the Florida and Georgia Bar.
Ms. Grace Park Blood, Parker Hudson Rainer & Dobbs LLP
Grace Blood is a partner with the law firm of Parker, Hudson, Rainer & Dobbs. Grace focuses her practice on representing healthcare providers in civil and administrative litigation, with particular experience in managed care payment disputes, judicial appeals, Medicare/Medicaid reimbursement, and certificate of need litigation. She also advises providers on various regulatory and compliance issues, including fraud and abuse and EMTALA. In helping her clients navigate a highly regulated industry, Grace combines exceptional writing and analysis with a “leave no stone unturned” approach to advocacy. Grace is recognized by Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch for both Administrative/Regulatory Law and Health Care Law.
Ms. Charlotte Ann Combre, BakerHostetler LLP
Charlotte Combre is a partner with the national law firm of Baker Hostetler where she focuses her practice on regulatory and compliance matters for health care organizations, specifically Medicare and Medicaid enrollment and payment issues, as well as licensure and accreditation matters. Charlotte is ranked in Georgia by Chambers USA. Active in inclusion and diversity initiatives, Charlotte serves as an advisor to the Baker Hostetler firmwide Inclusion and Diversity Council and co-chairs the Atlanta office Inclusion and Diversity Committee.
Charlotte received her Bachelor of Arts from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA. and her juris doctorate from Georgia State University College of Law.
Committed to community service, Charlotte is an active member of Leadership Atlanta (Class ’23) and the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys (“GABWA”). She serves on the Boards of the Georgia Community Trust of Bobby Dodd Institute and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul Georgia, where she chairs the governance committee. She has previously served on the Board of Directors of the GABWA Foundation, Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation, All About Developmental Disabilities, Bobby Dodd Institute, and Leadership DeKalb. For 10 years, she served as chair of Leadership DeKalb’s Health Day program and, in 2004, Charlotte chaired the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk in Atlanta. Charlotte is a sustainer member of the Junior League of DeKalb County and a life member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Sorority, Inc.
Mr. Robert M. Keenan, III, King & Spalding LLP
Rob Keenan is a partner with the Healthcare Practice Group of King & Spalding in Atlanta, Georgia. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois and of the University of Georgia School of Law. Rob advises health industry clients on a wide variety of regulatory, contracting and transactional matters, with considerable focus on HIPAA and health information privacy and cybersecurity issues, as well as Stark law compliance, troubleshooting and voluntary disclosures. He is a member of the American Health Lawyers Association and is a past president of the Georgia Academy of Healthcare Attorneys.
Ms. Kathlynn Lea Butler, Health Law Strategists, LLC
Kathy Butler Polvino practices exclusively in the area of healthcare law, with a focus on transactions, strategic planning initiatives, and administrative litigation. Ms. Polvino has extensive experience representing healthcare providers in complex transactions involving acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures, and other affiliations. She also has experience representing providers in litigation involving healthcare statutory and regulatory issues. She brings a unique perspective with 27 years’ experience in all major specialties within healthcare law: M&A/transactional, litigation, compliance, and regulatory matters.
Mr. Jordan Scott Johnson, Hall Booth Smith PC
Jordan Johnson is a Partner in the Atlanta office of Hall Booth Smith, specializing in aging services and health care matters. His practice features a wide range of regulatory, administrative, and litigation matters, including the full spectrum of issues health care providers face such as reimbursement, regulatory compliance, and administrative hearings and appeals.
Mr. William Wright Banks, Jr., Georgia Office of the Attorney General
Attorney General Chris Carr appointed W. Wright Banks, Jr. to serve as Chief Deputy for the Georgia Department of Law on March 1, 2020.
Previously, Wright served as Deputy Attorney General for the Commercial Transactions and Litigation Division from 2012 - 2019. In that role, he supervised three sections: Business and Finance; Real Property, Construction, Transportation and Authorities; and Tax.
From 2007 to 2012, he served as the Section Leader of the Business and Finance Section. Prior to that time, Wright worked in the Business and Finance Section practicing in a number of areas of law, including alcoholic beverage regulation, bankruptcy, insurance and procurements. He has provided general representation to a number of State entities, including the Georgia Department of Transportation, the Department of Administrative Services, the Department of Revenue, the Georgia Lottery Corporation, the Financing and Investment Division of the Georgia State Financing and Investment Commission, the State Road and Tollway Authority, the Georgia World Congress Center Authority and the Georgia Superior Court Clerks’ Cooperative Authority.
Wright graduated from the University of Georgia with an A.B. degree in political science in 1990. He received his law degree from Mercer University cum laude in 1993 where he was a member of the Mercer Law Review and Phi Kappa Phi.
Ms. Michelle Anne Williams, Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC
As former in-house counsel at large academic medical centers, Michelle Williams draws on her industry experience to advise on regulatory and structuring aspects of hospital mergers, acquisitions, and integrations. She has a reputation for smoothly obtaining attorney general and federal approvals for complex transactions, and she also advises on EMTALA, QIO hearings, medical staff issues, corporate governance and hospital authorities and districts.
Ms. Williams focuses her practice on the regulatory and structuring aspects of hospital mergers, acquisitions, and integrations. Her experience includes obtaining attorney general and federal approvals for complex transactions and/or conversion from nonprofit to for-profit status, and issues of successor liability. She also advises on corporate governance and Medical Staff governance in connection with changes of control or ownership. She represents clients undergoing CMS, EMTALA and state surveys, Medicare terminations and
regulatory review, and advises on hospital authority law, voluntary disclosures, corporate integrity agreements and qui tam defense.
Since 2012, Michelle has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America® in Health Care Law. Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business has recognized Michelle for excellence in the area of health care since 2008. Prior to joining Baker Donelson, Michelle was a commissioner on the Advisory Committee on Childhood Vaccines, advising the U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services on the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Fund. She was a former in-house counsel at University Hospitals of Cleveland and the former
Mount Sinai Hospital, and has been on-loan in-house counsel to general academic medical centers.
Mr. Daniel James Huff, Huff Powell & Bailey LLC
Dan is a founding partner of the law firm Huff, Powell & Bailey, LLC. Dan has tried more than 130 civil jury trials in Georgia. In more than 100 of the trials, Dan represented physicians and hospitals against allegations of medical malpractice.
In October 2022, Dan obtained a defense verdict for a local hospital in a Fulton County case where the jury found against two defendants for $75,000,000 and the Plaintiff sought $40,000,000 against the hospital alone. Dan is a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers and has been selected as a Superlawyer for more than 18 years.
Founded in 2003, Huff, Powell & Bailey, LLC has offices throughout Georgia and in North Carolina and South Carolina. HPB prides itself on having a deep bench of diverse first chair medical malpractice lawyers. With over 50 lawyers in three states HPB sets the standard for defending the healthcare industry in the southeast.
Ms. Sara Lindsey Lonergan
Lindsey has most previously served as the Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of Atrium Health Navicent where she provided strategic legal advice and services to executive leaders across the enterprise on various operational, regulatory, transactional, and litigation matters. Prior to that Lindsey was a health care litigation associate at Jones Day,
Mr. William Douglas Ezzell, BakerHostetler LLP
William is a crisis lawyer. He is an experienced business litigator, internal investigation, and federal criminal defense attorney. He focuses on the representation of individuals, business executives, health care professionals and corporate clients in white collar criminal investigations, prosecutions and civil enforcement proceedings. This past year alone, he defended to verdict an individual in the DOJ's most high-profile healthcare trial, represented a major medical equipment company in dozens of product liability actions, and appeared before the Eleventh Circuit as part his ongoing defense of a former hospital CEO in another high-profile federal trial set to begin this year. His national federal criminal and civil work spans an array of industries, including health care, government contracting and financial industries, and includes investigations and prosecutions of allegations of health care fraud, government procurement fraud, securities fraud, public corruption and money laundering.
Ms. Nicole Kathryn Nielly, Polsinelli PC
Nicole provides comprehensive representation and strategic counsel to corporations and individuals in civil and criminal government investigations, internal investigations, and high-stakes civil litigation in the health care industry and beyond.
Ms. Rachel Louise King, Health Law Strategists LLC
Rachel has more than a decade of experience spanning the intersection of healthcare policy, law, and compliance and holds the Certified in Healthcare Compliance (CHC) designation. Having served as General Counsel for two state healthcare agencies and Chief Compliance Officer of the Southeast’s largest pediatric hospital system, Rachel understands the complex legal landscape of the healthcare industry and is uniquely positioned to counsel clients on a multitude of legal, regulatory, and operational matters.
As General Counsel of the Georgia Department of Community Health, Rachel played a pivotal role in providing advice and counsel on proposed healthcare legislation, policies, and regulations related to a variety of matters including Medicaid, state health benefit plans, pharmacy services, fraud, waste, and abuse in federal programs, health planning, facility licensure, and emergency management. She also worked closely with state agencies and the Attorney General’s office reviewing litigation matters, engaging in negotiations, and developing legal strategies.
During her tenure as Executive Director of the Department’s Office of Health Planning, Rachel oversaw the administration and operation of the state Certificate of Need (CON) program, provided guidance on the impact of proposed legislation, issued CON decisions, vetted policy, and engaged with healthcare providers, suppliers, and their attorneys regarding regulatory compliance matters.
As General Counsel of the Georgia Department of Human Services, Rachel provided legal and compliance advice on matters ranging from child and elder welfare to member enrollment in federal programs.
Most recently, during her tenure as Chief Compliance Officer of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Inc., Rachel led a team partnering with legal and operational teams to enhance compliance and internal audit policies and practices.
Rachel understands first-hand that the unique challenges healthcare clients face demand tailored legal solutions. Her collaborative business-minded approach enables her to work closely with clients to identify their specific needs and develop strategies that meet legal requirements and foster long- term growth and success. She is a trusted advocate and a strategic partner who helps clients thrive in today’s ever-changing environment.
