AHLA Health Care Compliance Legal Issues Manual (AHLA Members)

Ann T. Hollenbeck (Editor) is a Partner in the Health Care and Life Sciences Practice of Jones Day. She advises hospitals, physicians, and other providers on the implications of health care reform, human subjects research matters, and fraud and abuse. She represents academic medical centers and health systems on clinical affiliations, 340B program matters and physician compensation. Ann also advises health care entities on transactional matters such as ancillary services arrangements, joint ventures, and physician-hospital relationships. She regularly represents health care entities on clinical trial-related agreements and related regulatory matters, including subject recruitment and informed consent. She received her undergraduate degree from Butler University and her law degree from Indiana University School of Law, and is licensed to practice law in Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois.

Karen Lovitch (Editor) is the Chair of the firm's Health Law Practice. She counsels health care clients on regulatory, transactional, and operational issues, including Medicare coverage and reimbursement, the development and implementation of health care compliance programs, and licensure and certification matters. In addition, Ms. Lovitch advises clients on the legal, practical, and fraud and abuse implications of business arrangements and sales and marketing practices. Her experience includes matters related to the Anti-Kickback Statute, the Stark Law, state statutes prohibiting kickbacks and self-referrals, and the federal Physician Payments Sunshine Act.

Lester J. Perling (Editor) is a Partner at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP. Mr. Perling is a board-certified health law attorney with extensive experience in compliance, enforcement, and reimbursement matters. Mr. Perling's practice focuses on advising health care providers of all types with regard to complying with federal and state laws, with emphasis on Stark Law and reimbursement/billing compliance. He represents providers when they are the subject of government and private payer audits, including the appeals of audit findings, as well as federal and state administrative, civil, and criminal investigations pertaining to health care fraud and abuse. He also advises health care clients with regard to regulatory compliance in the context of transactions and business structures. Mr. Perling has more than ten years of experience as a health care executive.

Mr. Perling is a past adjunct faculty member at Florida International University and has also taught courses at Florida Atlantic University and Nova Southeastern University School of Business and Entrepreneurship. Mr. Perling is a regular speaker on compliance, regulatory, and enforcement matters for various state and national organizations.

Cynthia F. Wisner (Editor, Author of Chapter 2 and Chapter 3) has represented hospitals, health care systems, physician groups, nonprofits and other health care organizations since graduating from University of Michigan Law School in 1981. She is associate counsel in the legal department of Trinity Health, one of the largest Catholic health care systems in the U.S. Ms. Wisner supports the system office information technology services, revenue excellence, and compliance departments. She specializes in reimbursement; hospital-physician relationships; health care regulatory compliance; health information technology purchases, privacy, security, and HIPAA; Medicare individual and group appeals; kickback and self-referral (Stark) prohibitions; and government investigations.

Prior to joining Trinity Health, Ms. Wisner worked at several prestigious Detroit law firms. In 1994 she became General Counsel to The Detroit Medical Center where she advised the community health care system for five years prior to joining Trinity Health. She has completed terms on the Board and as Chair of the In-House Counsel Practice Group of the American Health Lawyers Association (AHLA). She served six years as the Editor-in-Chief of AHLA's Journal of Health & Life Sciences Law and is co-editor of this Manual.

Brooke Bennett Aziere (Chapter 14, Medical Necessity, Claims, and Payment Processes) is a partner in the Wichita, Kansas office of Foulston Siefkin LLP. Ms. Aziere is a member of the firm's health care practice group and current practice group leader. Her major practice areas include health care regulatory matters, HIPAA, HITECH, compliance, senior care, risk management, Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, and government investigations relating to fraud and abuse. She has frequently represented clients in matters before state licensing boards, and other clients in state and federal lawsuits involving a variety of cases, including medical malpractice defense, intellectual property disputes, contract disputes, and torts. She is a 2003 graduate of the University of Kansas School of Law, where she was a member of the Order of the Coif and an articles editor for the Kansas Law Review. Ms. Aziere also received the Faculty Award for Outstanding Scholastic Achievement. She is a member of the Kansas and Texas Bar Associations, the American Health Lawyers Association, and the Kansas Association of Hospital Attorneys.

Ms. Aziere is licensed to practice in Kansas and Texas.