Federal Health Policy

Led by a team of policy strategists with decades of experience working with our nationally-renowned health care and information technology attorneys, the Baker Donelson Health Care Policy Group has become one of the premier advisors to the health care industry with a group of professionals who know and understand Washington. They bring together a diverse mix of talent, ability and people who have worked where it counts – in the White House, Congress, and the Department of Health and Human Services. This is not surprising for a firm ranked in 2008 by Modern Healthcare as one of the sixth largest health care law firms in the U.S., and by Best Lawyers in America® as second in the nation in the area of health care law.

Our experience includes Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement and coverage policies, newly emerging policies such as health information technology and transparency, and pandemic and bioterrorism preparedness. The team can address regulatory and policy issues related to Medicare, Medicaid, food, drugs, biologics and medical devices, as well as other matters within the Centers for Disease Control, National Institutes of Health, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Food and Drug Administration, Health Resources and Services Administration, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality., other parts of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

We are committed to providing the know-how and ability to play an active role in the ongoing evolution and debate related to health care issues.

Top policy strategists and attorneys comprise the Baker Donelson Health Care Policy Group, including:

• Former Senate Majority Leader, Chief of Staff to the President of the United States and former Ambassador to Japan Howard Baker. Among his many professional honors and activities, Senator Baker served as Chairman of the Board of the Mayo Clinic and sits on the Steering Committee for the Better Healthcare Coalition.
• Former Congresswoman Nancy Johnson, a recognized authority on national health care issues. Mrs. Johnson was the first Republican woman to be appointed to the powerful House Committee on Ways and Means and also the first woman to chair its Health Subcommittee.
• Lance Leggitt, who has 12 years of government and policy experience, served most recently as the President's Senior White House Policy Advisor for Health Policy.
• Sheila Burke, former Chief of Staff to Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole and Deputy Staff Director of the Finance Committee, has more than 19 years of legislative experience and was involved in numerous legislative issues particularly those related to the federal health programs. She was also a member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MEDPAC) for 8 years.
• Susan Christensen, a former advisor for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), has 25 years of legal and policy experience as a Congressional staffer, private sector attorney and consultant.
• Richard Cowart, head of Baker Donelson's Health Law/Public Policy Department, who is a past president of the American Health Lawyer's Association and is a recognized authority in advising clients on the legal, regulatory and business issues related to health care services.
• Brent Alexander, who served more than a decade as Senior Vice President for Advocacy for a hospital association and who brings substantive public policy experience to the Group.
• Donna Fraiche, who served as the first female President of the American Health Lawyers Association and is currently a Fellow of the Association; she has also served on various health care study commissions.
• Donna Thiel, an attorney who concentrates her practice on regulatory issues affecting health care providers and practitioners in their operations, transactions and compliance efforts with particular focus on Medicare and Medicaid payment systems.

Our accomplishments include:

• Successfully assisting a hospital client in addressing a reimbursement dispute with the Department of Veterans Affairs.
• Successfully assisting a hospital client in addressing an eligibility dispute with the Health Resources and Services Administration and its 340B drug pricing program.
• Helping a physician specialty client extend indefinitely their membership's billing arrangement through an emergency program memoranda from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
• Successfully securing direct earmarked appropriations of $20 – $30 million annually for state university programs, including several earmarks in the Labor HHS appropriations bills for such programs as a cancer center, a high-bandwidth network for health care & research, and a statewide oral health initiative.
• In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Baker Donelson Health Care advisors stepped up to the plate for hospitals in Mississippi and Louisiana by successfully securing $181 million in direct assistance. This funding was not earmarked by Congress but rather came from an HHS FY 2007 discretionary funding pool.
• Assisting a client in forging an agreement worth more than $30 million with the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) to license one of its information technology products.
• Obtaining a $21 million demonstration program with HHS and CMS to provide the first-ever pay-for-performance program in the history of the Medicare program.
• Assisting a pharmaceutical company in obtaining a contract with the National Institutes of Health for pre-clinical drug development/research services.