Health Care

Health Care March 2015

Annual Spring Meeting 2015: Health Care and Labor & Employment Committees

Hemorrhaging Hospitals: Labor Issues in the Healthcare Insolvency E.R.

Vertical integration may be the best option for some troubled health care providers

There has been a significant wave of health care provider consolidation driven by the desire to achieve scale in response to declining patient volumes and reimbursement, increasing costs, health care reform and the need for capital to implement improvements in the delivery of care, development/expansion of their physician networks and to make needed upgrades in IT, especially electronic medical records.

The Medical Bankruptcy Fairness Act of 2014: Cure or Misdiagnosis?

In his 2009 State of the Union Address, President Barack Obama urged Congress to confront the “crushing cost of health care,” claiming that “[t]his is a cost that now causes a bankruptcy in America every thirty seconds.”[1] Like-minded lawmakers subsequently introduced legislation to provide certain bankruptcy protections for medically distressed debtors.[2] Most recently, on June 12, 2014, Sens.

HIPAA and Healthcare Provider Solvency

Hospitals and other healthcare providers are facing significant financial and fiscal pressures. The recession and the sluggish recovery reduced personal incomes and, therefore, the demand (if not the actual need) for healthcare services. Pharmaceutical therapies and ambulatory surgical centers had previously reduced hospital admissions and revenues. Reduced reimbursements by Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurers have further suppressed revenues.

A Hypothetical: Conflicts of Interest in Representing Neighboring Urban Hospitals

The following hypothetical demonstrates the scope and application of §327(a) to competing neighboring urban hospitals: Two nonprofit hospitals are separated by three miles in a densely populated low-income urban community. Holy Mackerel sits at one end of Main Street while Baruch Gefilte is at the other. Both are suffering financial difficulties.

Extending the Automatic Stay to Access of Public Records in the St. Vincent's Bankruptcy

For more than 150 years, those living in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village relied on the health care services of St. Vincent’s Catholic Medical Center. In April 2010, after years of financial struggles, the hospital’s board of directors made the difficult decision to file for chapter 11. [1] Due to St. Vincent’s cozy former location in the heart of the Big Apple, the hospital’s bankruptcy filing has become one of the more notable cases among a wave of hospital filings in recent years.

Analysis of ABI Law Review Article - Recent Medical Bankruptcy Reform: A Fallacy of Composition

Is medical debt the primary cause for most consumer bankruptcy cases, and if so, can the current push for medical bankruptcy reform really reduce the number of consumer bankruptcies? No, say Amy Y. Landry and Robert J. Landry, III, authors of a recently published article addressing this topic, printed in the Spring 2011 issue of the ABI Law Review.

In Such a Regulated Industry, Why So Much Fraud and Financial Impropriety?

The health care industry is one of the most regulated industries with extensive federal and state governmental oversight. For instance, the industry is largely financed by monies paid under the Medicaid and Medicare programs, which require health care facilities receiving these monies to submit cost reports to federal and state governments that substantiate the monies received.

The Rare Case: A Successful Hospital Reorganization

In this age of pre-packaged, pre-negotiated, and chapter 11 liquidation cases filed to effectuate a sale, it is becoming increasingly rare to work on chapter 11 cases that are filed without a clear exit strategy, much less one where the debtor is able to successfully reorganize. In New Jersey, recent hospital bankruptcies such as Passaic Beth Israel, Pascack Valley, Barnert and Bayonne all ended in closures and/or sales. However, St.

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