Industry Overview
Today’s health care industry is undergoing foundational shifts, impacting stakeholders from individual medical practitioners and entrepreneurs to some of the world’s largest insurers, pharmaceutical innovators, senior living and health-delivery networks. Balancing clinical, regulatory, and urgent business demands, such as risk management in an era of big data, population health management, and accountable care, often calls for experienced legal representation and informed business advice.
Our Approach
Whether it’s navigating complex mergers and acquisitions of health networks, negotiating a labor contract, drafting legislation, defending health-related intellectual property, or establishing sound policies for healthcare organizations, you’ll find Hinckley Allen attorneys at the forefront of the health care industry, providing practical, reliable counsel and representation. We work with some of the region’s premier health-related organizations to protect their interests, facilitate new opportunities, and safeguard their ability to deliver great care.
Newsroom
Hinckley Allen Facilitates Milford Regional Medical Center’s Strategic Affiliation with UMass Memorial Health
November 18, 2024Hinckley Allen played a key role in Milford Regional Medical Center’s strategic affiliation with UMass Memorial Health. This affiliation integrated 2,500 Milford Regional employees into UMass Memorial Health’s system, expanding the nonprofit healthcare network to over 20,000 caregivers in Central Massachusetts. Leveraging its extensive expertise in healthcare mergers and acquisitions, Hinckley Allen successfully guided Milford Regional through the transaction, ensuring the long-term sustainability and growth of both institutions.
Corporate & Business Transactions Report — 2023
February 2, 2024We represent buyers, sellers, and investors — including middle-market and family-owned companies — on their most important business transactions. Our professionals bring a critical combination of experience, practicality, and a deep understanding of market terms — enabling us to achieve outstanding results for our clients.See how we drove results for our clients in 2023 across the industries we serve.
The 2023 Cyber Year in Review
December 19, 2023As we reflect upon 2023, it will unfortunately be remembered as a record-breaking year for ransomware and cybercrime. Data breaches have affected companies of all sizes and in every sector costing the United States billions of dollars in damages. Hackers are increasingly using double and triple extortion tactics that involve encryption, data exfiltration, and distributed denial of service attacks.
57 Hinckley Allen Lawyers Included in 2023 Super Lawyers and Rising Stars Lists
October 12, 2023A total of 57 Hinckley Allen attorneys were named to the Super Lawyers® and Rising Stars lists in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Upstate New York for 2023, including those newly recognized as well as featured in Top Lists.Gerald J. Petros and David A.
Hinckley Allen Attorneys Named in Best Lawyers in America® 2024
August 17, 2023A multitude of Hinckley Allen attorneys are recognized in their respective practice areas in Best Lawyers® 2024 edition of The Best Lawyers in America®. In addition, 11 Hinckley Allen attorneys were named in the “Lawyers of the Year” category, as well as 25 in the publication's “Ones to Watch” category.Best Lawyers® “Lawyer of the Year” recognizes individual lawyers with the highest overall peer-feedback in a specific practice area and region.
The New Health Privacy Enforcer: FTC Issues Stern Warning to Companies That Collect and Use Consumer Health Information
July 31, 2023On July 25, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) issued a strong admonishment putting companies that collect or use health information on notice that it intends to prioritize health information privacy in its enforcement actions. This follows unprecedented actions by the FTC. In February and May of this year, the FTC brought its first enforcement actions under its 2009 Health Breach Notification Rule (“HBNR”)[1] against GoodRx Holdings, Inc.
The Critical Role of A Cyber Incident Response Plan in Today’s Cyberthreat Environment
March 8, 2023Your network has been hacked. What do you do? Who do you call? Who is in charge? These questions need to be answered quickly when your network is under siege by cybercriminals, but does your company know how to handle such a crisis on a weekend or during a holiday break when many cyberattacks are timed to occur so as to strike when your corporate defenses are at their weakest?No organization is immune from cyberattacks. As the last few years have demonstrated, it is not a matter of if your company will experience a cyberattack, but when. Indeed, in 2022, 47% of private businesses exp…
Proposed Rules from DEA Would Expand Telemedicine Prescriptions
March 3, 2023On March 1, 2023, the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) released two Proposed Rules that, if finalized, would permanently expand the ability of health professionals to prescribe certain controlled substances through telemedicine consultations without a prior in-person visit. The rules are titled “Expansion of Induction of Buprenorphine via Telemedicine Encounter” and “Telemedicine Prescribing of Controlled Substances When the Practitioner and the Patient Have Not Had a Prior In-Person Medical Evaluation.” The rules are intended to continue certain flexibilities established du…
CMS Announces New Proposed Rules for Disclosure of Nursing Facility Ownership
February 17, 2023On February 13, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a proposed rule affecting Medicare skilled nursing facilities (SNF) and Medicaid nursing facilities (“Nursing Facilities”). The proposed rule aims to implement certain aspects of section 6101 of the Affordable Care Act, including changes to ownership information reportable to CMS by Nursing Facilities.At a broad level, the proposed rule seeks to improve transparency and quality of care in Nursing Facilities, as a result of increased private equity ownership in Nursing Facilities. Requiring nursing fac…
Ensuring Needed Access to Behavioral Health
November 18, 2024Hinckley Allen represented Providence Behavioral Health Hospital in Holyoke, Massachusetts in the sale of its hospital operations and related outpatient business, helping to ensure the continued availability of behavioral health services in Western Massachusetts.This sale required extensive negotiation of the terms of an asset purchase agreement and a real estate purchase and sale agreement, multiple regulatory approvals, union negotiations, and documents governing the secured purchase money financing for a portion of the purchase price. Hinckley Allen’s team of healthcare, corporate, real e…
High Court's Opioid Ruling Shows Limits Of CSA's Reach
June 29, 2022This article was featured in Law360 on June 29, 2022.On June 27, 2022, the United States Supreme Court issued a highly-anticipated decision for the health care community that defines what level of intent the Government must prove to convict a prescriber for the unlawful distribution of a controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Now, the Government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant knowingly or intentionally acted in an unauthorized manner.
Health Care Clients Face Complicated, New Regulations — And Legal Exposure
June 16, 2022This article was originally published in the May/June 2022 issue of the Massachusetts Bar Association’s Section Review.Massachusetts health care providers are facing new rules — and legal exposure — due to new state requirements for patient billing that impact consumers, providers and payors alike.These new requirements around patient billing were passed as part of the 2020 health care omnibus bill, “An Act Promoting a Resilient Health Care System that Puts Patients First,” that was signed into law on Jan.
“Patients First” Law Brings New Fines, and Potential Discipline for Health Care Industry
January 7, 2022On January 1, 2022 certain provisions of the Massachusetts “Patients First” law[1] (the “Patients First Act”) went into effect that require advance notice to patients of a provider’s network status and estimated costs of care. These new requirements have significant implications for patient billing by doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers, defined in the law[2]. On January 3, 2022, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) issued further clarifying information about these new requirements, as summarized below.
Trinity Health Hospital Acquisition Transactions
November 18, 2024Over the course of three years, Hinckley Allen successfully completed three major hospital acquisitions involving Trinity Health, a not-for-profit Catholic health system. The Firm represented Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center in connection with its acquisition by Trinity Health, and subsequently represented Trinity Health of New England in its acquisition of Johnson Memorial Hospital and Saint Mary’s Hospital. The transactions involved multiple health care regulatory approvals, canon law approvals from the Roman Catholic Church, and in the case of Johnson Memorial, bankruptcy court a…
