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5 Questions

Five Questions with a Health Lawyer: Erika Mayshar

by McDermott Will & Emery | Jun 26, 2019 | Uncategorized

Erika Mayshar
Partner
Office: Los Angeles
Years at Firm: 2

What is your favorite part about practicing health care law at McDermott?

When I moved to McDermott, I was proud to be joining the nation’s top health care law practice, but the industry rankings don’t tell the whole story. The breadth and depth of expertise are backed by a collegial and innovative culture that builds strong relationships among colleagues and clients. Health lawyers at McDermott truly enjoy their work and working with each other.

What is the biggest opportunity and greatest challenge facing clients in your area of focus today?

Industry disruption in health care is an ongoing reality for boards of directors and health system leadership. Being able to respond to moving-target opportunities is a challenge for leaders facing fast-paced regulatory change and economic pressure. The challenge is to determine what type of change makes sense for each organization – not to embrace disruption for the sake of staying current, but to seek opportunities that further the corporate mission and then implement change with meaningful stakeholder involvement. Tax-exempt nonprofit hospitals face additional hurdles, both cultural and legal, but are continually finding new ways to serve their communities and collaborate with for-profit businesses in creative ways.

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Five Questions with a Health Lawyer: Kate McDonald

by McDermott Will & Emery | Jun 11, 2019 | Health M&A, Managed Care

Kate McDonald
Partner
Office: Washington, DC
Years at Firm: 6

What is your favorite part about practicing health care law at McDermott?

The health care regulatory work we do is cutting edge. From the largest health care companies to the smallest start-ups, our clients tend to be highly sophisticated and they come to us with high stakes questions that have no easy answers. We help clients navigate a complex web of health care regulations to implement innovative business models or bend the cost curve. The work I do is intellectually challenging and I love partnering with my crazy smart colleagues to solve problems. This is what keeps me coming back to work day after day.

What is the biggest opportunity and greatest challenge facing clients in your area of focus today?

There is so much innovation occurring in the health care market today, and in particular in the managed care industry. Health insurers are partnering with an increasingly diverse set of business partners in an effort to provide higher quality care more efficiently, while actually keeping people healthier and improving their experience in the health care system – both of which inure to the benefit of both health insurers and consumers. While health care payors are at a critical intersection and have a unique opportunity to influence changes in the system, figuring out the best [...]

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Five Questions with a Health Policy Specialist: Mara McDermott of McDermott+Consulting

by McDermott Will & Emery | May 29, 2019 | Uncategorized

Mara McDermott
Vice President, McDermott+Consulting
Focus Area: Policy, Lobbying and Advocacy Strategies
Years at McDermott+Consulting: 1

What is your favorite part about your health policy work at McDermott+Consulting?

My favorite part about working at McDermott+Consulting is the entrepreneurial spirit of the firm. Since arriving at the firm a year ago we have tested and implemented so many new ideas to better serve our clients at an incredibly fast pace. We have established a weekly Check Up article series to provide health policy updates from Washington, DC, started our Policy Breakfast Series for clients and built a new advocacy coalition to influence policy in Washington, DC, just to name a few. The firm is constantly encouraging and embracing innovation to improve client service.

What is the biggest opportunity and greatest challenge facing clients in your area of focus today?

I help clients engage with Congress and the Administration on health care policy issues pertaining to provider payment. Right now, we see a lot of opportunity in the physician payment space, working with this Administration to define the next steps in the movement from volume to value. This includes opportunities around new delivery models, such as Direct Contracting and Primary Care First, recently announced Administrative initiatives.

The greatest challenge has been the pace of significant changes in the regulatory [...]

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Five Questions with a Health Lawyer: Megan Rooney

by McDermott Will & Emery | May 21, 2019 | Uncategorized

Megan Rooney
Partner
Office: Chicago
Years at Firm: 13

What is your favorite part about practicing health care law at McDermott?

The team, the team, the team! It’s a pleasure to work with colleagues who have deep substantive expertise, prioritize client service, and are good human beings. As a healthcare M&A attorney, I am responsible for leading large teams of attorneys, including a variety of subspecialists, to drive efficient and effective outcomes and achieve business goals. I love knowing that, in nearly every instance, when an issue arises we have the specific expertise to handle it and there is no need to reinvent the wheel.

What is the biggest opportunity facing clients in your area of focus today?

Our hospital and health system clients have a tremendous opportunity to improve the delivery of patient care, expand services provided to their communities and defend against the challenge of declining reimbursement through strategic partnerships. In addition to traditional hospital and health system M&A, our hospital and health system clients are increasingly pursuing Collaborative Transformations – that is, partnerships with non-traditional health care players. A successful Collaborative Transformation takes cultural integration between non-traditional partners, incorporating new technologies into health care regulatory compliance structures, and so much more.

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Five Questions with a Health Lawyer: Amanda Enyeart

by McDermott Will & Emery | Apr 30, 2019 | Uncategorized

Amanda Enyeart
Partner
Office: Chicago
Years at Firm: 4

What is your favorite part about practicing health care law at McDermott?

Definitely our people. I love the depth and breadth of expertise among my colleagues. We have highly experienced lawyers in just about every health care niche you can think of and this allows us to take on client work with confidence. On top of that, we have lawyers who are gifted strategists who can take a holistic and critical look at an issue from a broad perspective. I am constantly learning from my colleagues.

What is the biggest opportunity and greatest challenge facing clients in your area of focus today?

Our clients have the potential to transform health care delivery and improve quality of care. We see forces aligning such as changes in payment models to reward value rather than volume and the integration of advanced technology in health care settings to support health care diagnosis and decision making that could actually result in improved health outcomes for many people. Sometimes it seems like all you hear is a lot of hype and speculation – but we get to see through our interactions with clients that some things are really changing.

The flip side is that biggest challenge to this innovation is regulatory compliance that has not kept pace with the changes in health care. There is a real struggle for resources in health [...]

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Five Questions with a Health Lawyer: Matt Friendly

by McDermott Will & Emery | Mar 19, 2019 | Health M&A

Matt Friendly
Associate
Office: Miami
Years at Firm: 5

What is your favorite part about practicing health care law?

I appreciate that health care is constantly evolving and changing. While the vastness of the field can be intimidating for some, it provides career-making opportunities to gain experience in a sub-specialty and build a reputation within that space. I am also grateful for the heavy volume of deal activity in health care – with no signs of slowing down – which presents constant opportunities to learn, grow and support clients who are shaping the health care landscape.

What is the biggest opportunity and greatest challenge facing clients in your area of focus today?

The greatest opportunity for many of our clients is selling their business or portfolio company at a time when the market is ripe for health care acquisitions, with valuations trending upwards and buyers with tremendous amounts of capital to deploy. This dealmaking climate presents a challenge for our clients who must determine how to make smart health care investments and navigate a complex regulatory framework once they own the company. That’s where McDermott comes in – our team is experienced in getting deals done and providing creative, business-focused solutions at every stage of the transaction process.

Who is your favorite health care leader or influencer to read, watch or follow and why?

Physical [...]

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Five Questions with a Health Lawyer: Karen Owen Gibbs

by McDermott Will & Emery | Feb 28, 2019 | Reimbursement

Karen Owen Gibbs
Partner, McDermott Will & Emery
Office: Chicago
Years at the Firm: 5

What is your favorite part of practicing health care law?

US health care law is interesting, fast-changing and relevant to virtually every person in the United States. As the health care space changes to incorporate new technologies and adjusts to meet patient expectations, I work with my clients on a range of issues that were not on the radar 10 or even five years ago. For example, I do a lot of work in the pharmaceutical industry, including facilitating collaborations between traditional pharma companies and new players, helping clients address reimbursement challenges resulting from the transition to value-based care, and helping providers navigate the opioid crisis. It’s an exciting time to help clients bring new and better care to patients.

What is the biggest opportunity and the greatest challenge facing clients in your area of focus today?

The challenge and the opportunity are closely related. Many clients are seeking to maximize opportunities within today’s rapidly evolving regulatory and reimbursement climate. Current health care policy is highly focused on delivering better care to more people at a lower cost. Our clients are looking for opportunities to deliver on that challenge. That can include collaborating with partners from outside the health care industry such as [...]

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