Hooper, Lundy & Bookman Elevates Three Partners and Four Senior Counsel

“We congratulate these individuals, who exemplify the best of Hooper, Lundy & Bookman’s strengths, and reflect the excellence and breadth of our health care provider practice,” said Managing Shareholder Mark Reagan. “They provide legal services of the highest quality and their elevation reflects our continuing commitment to growing our next generation of leaders.”

The following individuals were offered equity partnership:

Sandi Krul (Los Angeles Office) – Krul is a leader in the firm’s health care real estate practice and has more than 20 years of experience managing and negotiating complex real estate transactions, including leases, acquisitions, dispositions and financings. She represents hospitals, health care districts, skilled nursing and other long-term care providers, treatment centers, physician groups and other health care providers and suppliers on all forms of real estate transactions, as well as physician-hospital affiliations, mergers and acquisitions and other health care transactions consistent with regulatory requirements, including fraud and abuse laws and the corporate practice of medicine. Sandi has managed hundreds of leasing arrangements, acquisitions, sales and other health care transactions of all sizes across California on behalf of hospitals, long term care facilities and other health care providers, as well as transactions throughout the U.S. Krul also serves as co-chair of the firm’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee.

Katrina Pagonis (San Francisco Office) – Pagonis is Co-Chair of the firm’s Regulatory Department and a nationally recognized expert on health reform, including price transparency, surprise billing, site neutral payment, and implementation of the Affordable Care Act’s market reforms. Pagonis advises clients on the impact of health care reform, as well as emerging health care reform proposals (from repeal-and-replace to single payer) at the state and national levels. She also provides regulatory and strategic advice to health care providers concerning managed care issues more generally, including out-of-network reimbursement, network configuration, reference pricing and cost-sharing limits, managed care contracting, and enrollment assistance activities. In addition, she regularly assists health care providers with a broad range of regulatory and Medicare/Medicaid reimbursement matters and litigation. Pagonis is a former judicial law clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada.

The following individual was promoted to non-equity partner:

David Vernon (Washington, D.C. office) – Vernon is experienced in graduate medical education (GME) reimbursement matters and a co-founder of the firm’s Academic Medical Center / Teaching Hospital Group. He focuses his practice on Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, especially on GME reimbursement and area wage index matters, and is a member of the firm’s Medicare Appeals Practice Group. Vernon is also a skilled licensing and certification attorney with expertise in addressing general and change of ownership-specific licensing, certification, and provider enrollment matters for many different provider types in many different states. He is also a member of the firm’s Fraud & Abuse Practice Group, and has experience counseling health care providers in a broad range of fraud and abuse and compliance issues.

The following individuals were promoted to senior counsel:

Bridget Gordon (Los Angeles Office) – Gordon is a member of the Litigation Department, Managed Care Practice Group, and the Fraud & Abuse Practice Group. Her practice comprises a wide range of matters on behalf of hospitals, physicians, long-term care facilities, and other health care providers, with a focus on managed care litigation matters, as well as False Claims Act litigation. She has represented a variety of healthcare providers in both contracted and non-contracted managed care contexts, seeking to ensure providers are compensated appropriately for the valuable healthcare services they provide. She also frequently provides guidance for internal investigations, overpayment and recoupment audits, EHR vendor disputes, and managed care contracting negotiation and reviews.

Jordan Kearney (San Francisco Office) – Kearney is a member of the firm’s Fraud and Abuse Practice Group. She provides regulatory and litigation counseling for a range of providers, including hospitals, long-term care providers, behavioral health providers, and home health and hospice companies. Her practice focuses on the defense of healthcare providers in government investigations and audits, including federal and state False Claims Act actions, actions under the California Insurance Fraud Prevention Act, and audits by Unified Program Integrity Contractors (UPICs). Kearney also regularly counsels providers on internal investigations of potential overpayments and any subsequent obligations to report and return under the 60-Day Rule.

Alicia Macklin (Los Angeles Office) – Macklin is experienced in behavioral health and substance abuse treatment and the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA). She focuses on issues raised in the context of behavioral health care and substance use disorder treatment, such as privacy and confidentiality concerns and unique compliance concerns. She also advises on EMTALA-related issues, including policies, trainings, and investigations. She also assists health care providers, including hospitals, physicians, and health services companies with a broad range of compliance, licensing and certification, and reimbursement issues. In addition to her work at the firm, Macklin is also a Lecturer at the University of California, Los Angeles Fielding School of Public Health, where she teaches Legal Environment of Health Services Management.

Robert Miller (Los Angeles Office) – Miller is a member of the firm’s Business Department and Digital Health Task Force. He advises a wide variety of health care companies on corporate and regulatory issues. Recognized for his creative problem-solving and unusually broad-based experience in both business and health law, Miller advocates for clients from Hawaii to Maine, including health systems, hospitals, technology companies, physician groups, management organizations, and investors in health care businesses. Miller draws on his keen insight into transactions within the heavily regulated health care industry to counsel large, sophisticated organizations grappling with multifaceted problems that can’t be resolved with off-the-shelf solutions. He also advises provider clients on fraud and abuse issues in the context of both transactions and regulatory compliance, including internal investigations, analyses of reporting requirements, and related disclosures to governmental agencies.

About Hooper, Lundy & Bookman: Founded in 1987, Hooper, Lundy & Bookman PC is the largest law firm in the country dedicated solely to the representation of health care providers and suppliers. With offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Boston, and Washington, D.C., and clients in all 50 states, we meet the business, litigation, regulatory, and government relations needs of a broad array of health care providers―ranging from the largest national health care organizations to community hospitals and individual physician practices. We are pleased to be ranked by Chambers USA as Tier One: Health Care, California, and #1 for the West Region on the ABA Health Law Section’s 7th Annual “Regional Law Firm Recognition Top 10 List.”