Praised by clients for its ‘wealth of deep understanding’, the California-based practice at Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP handles a broad array of mandates, including the taxation of health plans and disputes concerning out-of-network reimbursement. Eric Klein leads the team, utilizing his longstanding transactional experience to advise clients on joint ventures and M&A. Lynsey Mitchel is a regulatory specialist when it comes to HMO-related issues under the California Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act, while Moe Keshavarzi routinely acts for health plans in class actions and disputes concerning unfair competition. W0rking out of the Washington DC office, Christine Clements is known for her broad knowledge of HIPAA compliance issues and both state and federal managed healthcare government contract programs.
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘The team brings a wealth of deep understanding in our industry, along with a vast wheelhouse of internal resources for any issues that crop up. Knowing there is a subject matter expert for the unique issues we are presented with brings us the confidence that we do not need to engage another firm to help with the consistency across issues.’
‘The clarity of response, quickness of reply, and personalities of the people we work with (particularly Christine Clements) have brought us back time and time again.’
‘Christine Clement's deep understanding of the industry has brought us confidence, and helped propel our business in the right direction.’
Key clients
- Molina Healthcare
- Centene Corporation
- Kaiser Foundation Health Plan
- UnitedHealthcare
- UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust
- Hawaii Medical Service Association
- Chicago Pacific Founders
- California Association of Health Plans
- Multiplan, Inc.
- Oscar Health, Inc.
Work highlights
- Advised Molina Healthcare on the negotiation of the contracts between the state of California, Molina Healthcare and, HealthNet within six weeks in order to meet state-imposed deadlines for launch of the newly redesigned 2024 Medi-Cal California program. The contract is expected to provide $3.9bn in revenue to Molina.
- Advised Centene’s Wellcare Health Plan on the negotiation of a strategic alliance with Mutual of Omaha for the launch of co-branded Medicare Advantage plans across the US starting in 2024.
- Represented Kaiser Foundation Health plan in a taxpayer suit which alleged that Kaiser should have been taxed as an insurance company, which under the California Constitution would have required Kaiser to pay tax not on profits but instead on gross premium revenue. The case presented the novel issue of whether a healthcare service plan is the same thing as a health insurance company for purposes of the California Constitution’s gross premium tax provision.
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Eric Klein