Healthcare

Over the past 20 years, the healthcare industry has seen and experienced wide-sweeping changes in almost every aspect of the industry. A number of the lawyers at Byrne, Cardenas & Aris began their careers working at downtown firms that represented hospitals and doctors in medical malpractice claims. Our healthcare attorneys are experienced in analyzing and evaluating standard of care issues that give rise to liability for doctors and hospitals. With the passage of House Bill 4 the medical malpractice community in Texas, and Dallas in particular, experienced a significant reduction in the number of claims filed and the number of cases tried. As a result, there is now a shortage of attorneys with medical malpractice trial experience.

Healthcare administrators, HMOs, insurance companies and physicians are all faced with the continuing challenge of keeping their patients and customers happy and healthy—all while finding a way to maximize profits in a highly regulated industry.

A significant part of our practice is devoted almost exclusively to health care regulatory and transactional matters. The firm routinely advises hospitals and physician-owned medical facilities on operations, management, governance, and compliance issues, and we frequently provide advice on peer review matters and credentialing with regard to medical staff and managed core-credentialing plans.

We actively and successfully assist our clients with issues including:

• Structuring joint ventures between hospitals, physicians, and physician-group practices
• Advising physicians and healthcare providers on corporate structure and governance
• Mergers, acquisitions, and formation of organization business entities
• Compliance program development and implementation
• Negotiation and preparation of asset and company purchase agreements
• Fraud and abuse issues due to federal and anti-kickback and physician self-referral laws