Ambulatory Surgery Centers
Advances in treatment techniques and cost pressures continue to cause healthcare to migrate from inpatient settings to various ambulatory providers. Patient convenience and the opportunity for referring physician ownership of some types of providers also create demand for ambulatory services. As the ambulatory sector of healthcare grows and evolves, providers face a myriad of new opportunities and challenges that require guidance from the business-minded legal professionals at Dykema.
The scope of ambulatory care has expanded over the past decade as the volume and complexity of interventions have expanded. Professional ambulatory care requires complex information management and care coordination.
Dykema’s multidisciplinary legal team—drawn from lawyers across the firm’s diverse areas of practice—provides comprehensive legal counsel to ambulatory care providers, including ambulatory surgery centers, federally qualified health centers, rural health clinics, urgent care centers, physical therapy providers, DMEPOS suppliers, and clinical labs. We counsel our ambulatory care clients on issues ranging from general business matters to AAAHC accreditation, certificate of need (CON), licensure, Medicare certification, and payer recognition of new provider categories.
Our regulatory and government policy lawyers offer guidance on state and national legislative matters that impact ambulatory care providers on issues such as coverage and payment, Medicare and Medicaid compliance, and healthcare reform. Our lawyers are well-versed in the full range of issues arising under applicable healthcare laws and regulations. For ambulatory care providers, we regularly:
- Work with regulatory agencies to help clients obtain CONs and licensure.
- Draft and implement regulatory compliance plans.
- Represent clients before state and federal governmental agencies on licensure, certification, and compliance matters.
- Work with client management and accrediting organizations to help clients receive necessary accreditations.
- Help clients obtain Medicare certification and comply with Medicare and Medicaid enrollment requirements, including changes of ownership.
- Avoid fraud and abuse problems, respond to third-party payer and government investigations, and assist in structuring self-audits and, if necessary, providing self-disclosures.
Our Chambers USA ranked employment and employee benefits lawyers counsel our ambulatory care provider clients in areas ranging from confidentiality and non-competition agreements to compliance with federal and state employment and labor laws, and from executive contracts and compensation to employee stock option plans. We also draft, review, and negotiate medical directorship agreements, physician and other medical professional contracts, and medical supply agreements, as well as counsel on credentialing and peer review matters.
We also regularly help our ambulatory care clients with general operational legal needs, such as corporate governance, tax, insurance, and contract issues.
As demand for outpatient care increases, so do the opportunities for providers. To help our ambulatory care clients take advantage of these market opportunities, our team provides counsel on a full spectrum of transactions matters—from initial entity formation, mergers, acquisitions, and IPOs to venture capital and other debt and equity financings.
We help clients form new operating companies and prepare their operational documents and help existing companies to expand, enter into joint ventures or by purchasing the assets of another entity.
In addition, we have extensive experience with ASC buyouts and restructuring transactions, including counseling on compliance with state and federal anti-kickback laws and requirements, disclosure requirements, and related regulatory impact of reorganization.
