Health Care

Riker Danzig's Health Care Group is involved in all aspects of the legal system that affect the planning, financing and delivery of health care by organizations and individuals. Our heath care attorneys serve as counsel to hospitals, nursing homes, home health care agencies, hospices and other health care providers and suppliers. We handle legal and regulatory matters unique to the health care industry, specializing in mergers and acquisitions, federal and state tax matters, quality of care and biomedical ethical matters, physician contracting, medical staff credentialing and federal and state regulations governing hospitals and other health care facilities.

We represent hospitals and other providers in their applications for New Jersey Certificates of Need and subsequent changes in cost or scope of services for such certificates, as well as in licensing matters.

We provide counseling for corporate reorganizations, medical and professional staff issues, withholding of life support, refusal of treatment and informed consent issues, guardianship, medical records, corporate compliance plans, health care reimbursement matters, intellectual property and research and development issues, fraud and abuse and other Medicare issues, as well as for hospital construction, financing and bond matters. Our attorneys assist hospitals in business arrangements and joint ventures, mergers, consolidations, asset sales and acquisitions, with special attention given to ensure compliance with federal tax laws, "fraud and abuse" concerns, antitrust laws and financial covenants contained in bond indentures and other financing documents.

Our health care attorneys are engaged in on-going analyses of state and federal regulatory trends and proposed legislation. We are prepared to advise our clients on reviews for compliance with health planning, licensure, public health, government grant and contract requirements and financing techniques.  We can provide advice regarding labor and employment, as well as real estate and employee benefit issues, and commercial contracting. We also serve as counsel in state and federal administrative appeals and civil court litigation.

The expertise of our health care attorneys, coupled with the firm's broad range of capabilities in related practice areas, brings great depth of service to the individual concerns of our health care clients.

We provide general and special counsel services to a variety of hospitals in New Jersey. These include the Carrier Foundation, Raritan Bay Medical Center, East Orange General Hospital, The Valley Hospital, and Solaris Health System. Our attorneys have also served as special counsel at Saint Clare's Hospital (formerly Northwest Covenant Medical Center), Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at Hamilton, the Saint Barnabas Health Care System, the Meridian System Hospitals (Jersey Shore Medical Center, Riverview Medical Center and Medical Center of Ocean County), Hackensack University Medical Center, Community Medical Center, Mercer Medical Center, Helene Fuld Medical Center, Behavioral Health Center and Mountainside Hospital.

Riker Danzig counsels hospitals and physicians on the development of business ventures, including structuring the financial and tax aspects of partnership and shareholder agreements. Specific legal services are provided on the interpretation of federal tax laws and regulations, Medicare and Medicaid Fraud and Abuse laws, Medicare regulations and antitrust laws and regulations as they relate to specific hospital or physician practices or joint venture activities.

In today's diverse health care environment, Riker Danzig has provided a full range of legal services to such health-related ancillary organizations as home health care agencies, assisted living facilities, chronic hemo-dialysis facilities, free-standing ambulatory care facilities, ambulance companies, durable medical equipment suppliers, HMOs, PPOs and MSOs.