Joshua J. Freemire is a Member of the Firm in the Health Care and Life Sciences practice, in the Baltimore office of Epstein Becker Green. His practice is primarily focused on counseling private equity companies and other health care investors and their portfolio companies on a broad spectrum of health regulatory concerns, including fraud and abuse, privacy law, licensing, reimbursement, multi-jurisdictional practice and entity structuring, compliance, and disclosures.
Mr. Freemire regularly works with private equity entities and similarly situated entities to review and evaluate health care compliance and the impact of current and potential future health care laws on potential acquisitions. Outside the acquisition context, he has worked closely with provider entities on a broad spectrum of health regulatory operational questions, including structuring transactions and relationships to comply with federal and state fraud and abuse laws, creating or correcting appropriate compliance programs, and disclosing compliance failures.
In addition, Mr. Freemire has extensive experience across a broad array of the health laws that typically affect providers and their investors, including the Stark Law, the Anti-Kickback Statute, the Civil Money Penalty Law, the Beneficiary Inducement Statute, state corporate practice and fee-splitting laws, HIPAA, the HITECH Act, the “meaningful use” of certified electronic health record technology, and many similar federal and state programs.
Mr. Freemire’s typical engagements include:
- Advising private equity companies and other health care investors on the regulatory risks in a potential investment through the diligence and negotiation process
- Negotiating transactional documents to minimize or “box” particular identified or generally high-risk health regulatory concerns
- Negotiating with lenders and other financial sources with regard to transactional health regulatory risks and ongoing portfolio company compliance obligations
- Counseling portfolio companies on developing and implementing compliance programs and managing compliance issues, including self-disclosure under both the OIG and CMS protocols
- Advising portfolio companies on a go-forward basis on the regulatory risks of growth and expansion, including fraud and abuse in transactions and relationships and state law compliance through multi-jurisdictional growth
- Providing advice to sell-side investors and entities with regard to pre-sale preparations, diligence, and related health regulatory assessments to maximize value
