Healthcare – Mobile, AL – Johnston Adams, LLC

Healthcare

Our attorneys provide comprehensive legal and regulatory advice to hospitals and healthcare providers in South Alabama and the Gulf Coast region. We provide our healthcare clients with prompt, personal service from experienced lawyers – whether it’s a small, everyday matter, a major transaction, or complex litigation.

Our full-service healthcare practice advises clients on cutting-edge issues, including the latest developments in Medicaid expansion, uncompensated care issues, and the Affordable Care Act. We also counsel them on HIPAA, certificates of need, discharge issues, privilege, confidentiality, electronic health records, state and federal regulatory issues, and the National Practitioner Data Bank.

We handle litigation and other adversarial proceedings, and we have extensive experience representing hospitals in large transactions, including the acquisition of physician practices.

In addition to regional and local hospitals, our healthcare clients include the largest not-for-profit healthcare provider in Alabama, physicians, long-term care facilities, mental healthcare facilities, healthcare systems and networks, rehabilitation hospitals, home health agencies, and management services organizations.

What You Need to Know About Healthcare Law

Healthcare is a complicated area of the law, involving receiving healthcare and determining who should pay for medical services. In 2018, the United States spent $3.65 trillion on healthcare alone. Given the breadth and expense of healthcare, it is one of the most heavily regulated industries in the U.S. This legal area is also tied to human health and often involves life-and-death scenarios. These complexities require attorneys dedicated to specializing in healthcare regulations.

Johnstone Adams, LLC understands the growing demand for legal counsel in the healthcare industry, with the regulatory maze addressing every aspect of giving and receiving medical attention for injury and illness. Non-lawyers cannot navigate these waters, so many hospitals and healthcare systems rely on our esteemed lawyers to keep their businesses running smoothly and help patients.

State and federal governments are attempting to reclaim billions in losses by cracking down on healthcare fraud and abuse, making complete compliance with U.S. healthcare regulations crucial to medical centers and medical professionals. Hospitals and medical associations may be accused of various illegal practices such as fixing nurses’ salaries, kickbacks, privacy violations, licensing discrepancies, and bioethics.

These intricate matters keep our healthcare lawyers busy and apprised of the ever-changing landscape of healthcare law. The rising cost of healthcare in the United States and an aging population mean this industry will not slow down in the coming years.

How a Healthcare Lawyer Helps

There is a growing demand for legal representation in the healthcare industry, particularly in hospital chains, pharmacies, clinical laboratories, physician groups, nursing homes, walk-in clinics, health insurers, doctors, and other medical professionals. People in these professions are in a troubling position as they focus on improving the lives of patients but also face the reality of medical malpractice lawsuits due to the litany of regulations they must follow for patient safety and privacy.

A healthcare lawyer helps to protect these individuals and businesses that provide medical care so they can focus on what they do best: treating the sick and injured. These claims often reach into other legal practice areas, such as contracts, tax, corporate law, securities, bioethics, and malpractice. Johnstone Adams, LLC is uniquely suited for this practice area due to our full-service law firm with attorneys specializing in a wide range of U.S. laws.

Regulatory Compliance

One of the areas a healthcare lawyer focuses on is regulatory compliance, as this is an essential component of healthcare business transactions. These complicated issues include third-party payor liabilities, Medicare, Medicaid, license transfer approval regulations, malpractice lawsuits, taxation, and ERISA.

Fraud and Abuse

Our attorneys can help avoid healthcare abuse and fraud allegations and fight on the medical professional’s behalf should these claims arise. Many providers rely on payments from Medicare and Medicaid for the bulk of their revenue, and these legal concerns can affect invoicing. The healthcare industry is fraught with abuse and fraud implications, and only a lawyer who specializes in this area knows how to prevent and defend these issues, including anti-kickback laws, the federal False Claims Act, and the Stark anti-referral law.

Hospital and Physician Obligations As to Patient Rights Under HIPPA

Patient rights are paramount in the healthcare industry, and every precaution has to be taken to ensure the patient’s safety and privacy. Healthcare lawyers make sure these legal rights are secured through informed consent for treatment, procedures, and research. We counsel hospitals, physicians, and other medical professionals on the reasonable expectation of privacy guaranteed to every patient, including HIPAA privacy rules and taxation issues, as many U.S. healthcare settings are tax-exempt through nonprofit status.

Contact Our Healthcare Lawyers in Mobile

Healthcare law is a tangled web of legal issues that are constantly evolving. These clients need a team of lawyers with extensive experience and knowledge in healthcare law. At Johnstone Adams, LLC, we have experienced attorneys who currently represent major hospitals and mental health providers in all aspects of hospital administration, labor and employment issues, worker compensation claims, HIPPA compliance, and physician practice acquisitions/mergers.

Contact our Mobile, Alabama office today at (251) 319-4659 or fill out our online contact form.

Strengths

HIPAA Security and Privacy

Physician Recruitment

Affordable Care Act

Physician Practices Acquisition

State and Federal Regulatory Issues

Physician Contracting

Medical Staff Credentialing

Disciplinary Hearings

Medical Staff Bylaws

Managed Care Contracting

Certificates of Need

Medical Records Issues

Tax Exemption Issues

Medicare Fraud and Abuse

Medicaid Expansion

Physician Self-Referral

Hospital-Physician Disputes

Agreements Drafting

In-House General Counsel

Overcoming New Challenges

Sweeping legislation and regulatory changes in the healthcare industry have an ongoing and evolving impact on the way hospitals and healthcare providers offer care, recruit medical staff, ensure patient privacy, and run their businesses.

Our healthcare lawyers are committed to staying on top of these changes and advising clients on the best way forward. We are nimble enough to respond quickly to everyday issues, and yet, we have the knowledge and resources to handle major litigation and complex transactions.

This flexibility, experience, and responsiveness are the hallmarks of our practice, and the reason so many hospitals and major healthcare providers look to us for guidance.

View Representative

Assisted an integrated healthcare network in the acquisition and sale of several rural hospitals in southwest Alabama.
Serve as general counsel for a number of hospitals, including a large integrated healthcare network.
Advise numerous hospital clients on tax law and hospital law on an ongoing basis.
Advised clients in connection with the acquisition of a large number of physician practices.
Represented a major hospital competing for a certificate of need for nursing home beds, obtaining favorable rulings from an administrative agency, a fair hearing officer, and the appellate court.
Obtained a favorable decision from the CON Review Board on behalf of a nursing home seeking approval of a certificate of need to expand.
Obtained a favorable settlement for a hospital in litigation involving an EEOC Commissioner’s sexual harassment/discrimination charge.
Represented a hospital system in connection with the purchase and sale of hospitals.

FROM OUR CLIENTS

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My husband and I were referred to Johnstone Adams in the spring of last year. We are working very closely with Jessica Welch and Greg Watts on an ongoing and unwanted family estate matter. Ms. Welch and Mr. Watts have been so professional and knowledgeable. In addition, considering the nature of the suit, Jessica has provided my husband and me with peace of mind we didn’t think was possible during this extremely stressful time of our lives. She is an amazing trial attorney. They have gone above and beyond. To sum it up, I have nothing but the utmost respect and appreciation for them. I would strongly recommend either of them to my dearest friends and family members. I’m so thankful that we stumbled upon them. I’m actually going to miss Jessica Welch when this is all over.”

I am currently using this law firm and they are informative, keep me up to date with my case, and return your calls/emails immediately. I am very satisfied. My wife and I approached Johnstone Adams to help us make a better-informed decision regarding her immigration. They have been a truly invaluable asset. They brought their knowledge, experience, confidence, and calm demeanor to the process, which put our minds at ease. The worry and anxiety that we were facing melted away, and we have been, literally, hand-held during this daunting process. We can’t thank or recommend Johnstone Adams enough and look forward to continuing to use their services in the future.

Johnstone Adams was a great help when it came to drawing up our family’s will and advanced directives prior to the birth of our first son. These are certainly things that no one wants to think about, but the process was easy. They were professional and knowledgeable, answering all of our questions along the way with compassion and sensitivity. Johnstone Adams responded quickly to any questions and was easy to get in touch with! We would highly recommend them for any legal work!! Jessica’s advice and assistance with our family’s interests in a probate matter was exceptional from beginning to end– always thoughtful, responsive and efficient, and focused and timely.

It was a genuine pleasure for the doubtless incorrigibly demanding old lawyer that I am to have a professional of her outstanding caliber assisting me on this matter—both generally and in my role as executor in particular—in a jurisdiction unfamiliar to me and on a matter completely outside of my own experience and expertise. I might also point out that she was really excellent in interfacing, always in a timely and solution-oriented manner, with other parties involved in our matter to help keep our initiatives on track—including attorneys dealing with the disposition of residential real estate and financial assets. Jessica and her excellent assistant, Shelly Perrone, also offered and provided pragmatic and efficient solutions to logistical and execution issues made it significantly more challenging than usual given the COVID-19 crisis and my own location far from Mobile– in Paris, France.

I highly recommend attorney Rick La Trace. Aside from being professional, polite, and yet firm, Rick is a combination of knowledge, detail, and responsiveness. (In my opinion, there are very few professionals who have ALL three qualities. Rick is one of the very few.) What makes him stand apart from the rest, is that he takes the time to listen to his client’s concerns (no matter how “trivial”). He educates client’s on how the law works, shares his opinions, including the pros and cons of each. We would definitely use Rick’s services again, and highly recommend him for anyone who wants a lawyer that they can trust to thoroughly handle their case from start to finish, even down to the small details. You can tell from working with Rick that he’s not just about getting paid for his services, but that he enjoys working through problems and finding creative solutions for his clients. Also, I highly recommend the Johnstone Adams, LLC systems and processes. Shelly and Cathy were on top of things. I give Rick and Johnstone Adams more than five stars.

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WHY CHOOSE OUR FIRM

Dedicated Quality & Commitment

Only a few special law firms in the U.S. have provided exceptional representation to businesses for more than a century. Johnstone Adams, LLC is one of these rare, distinguished firms. Since 1897, the firm has successfully advanced from a local firm serving South Alabama into a dynamic regional powerhouse equipped to fulfill most legal needs of its diverse client base.

Legacy Of Excellence

Each attorney takes great pride in continuing the firm’s legacy of excellence. By consistently providing sophisticated, aggressive, and innovative legal solutions to every client in each service area, Johnstone Adams attorneys personally ensure that their firm’s long, storied past is only the beginning.

Exemplary Client Service & Efficiency

With a focus on exemplary client service and efficiency, Johnstone Adams attorneys guide clients through legal matters from the first conversation about strategy to successful completion in the following critical service areas: Health Care, Employment, Labor & Workers’ Compensation, Insurance Defense Litigation, Commercial Litigation, Corporate Transactions, Real Estate Litigation & Transactions, Construction, Oil & Gas, Tax, Trusts & Estate Planning, Banking & Finance, Immigration, and Forest Use.

ABOUT US

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