Ellyn L. Sternfield Joins Mintz Levin’s Washington D.C. Office
11/16/2010
Addition of Former State Medicaid Fraud Control Unit Director Further Strengthens Firm’s National Health Care Enforcement Defense Capabilities
Washington, D.C. – Ellyn L. Sternfield, the former director of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit at the Oregon Department of Justice, has joined the Health Law Practice of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, PC, as Of Counsel in the firm’s Washington D.C. office. With a wealth of experience handling criminal and civil health care billing fraud cases, Ms. Sternfield joins one of the premier health care enforcement defense practices in the country.
“Ellyn’s impressive background and extensive experience handling an array of complex criminal and civil health care cases will further strengthen our capabilities in this increasingly active area,” said Karen Lovitch, Leader of the firm’s Health Law Practice. “We are pleased to welcome her to the firm.”
Before joining Mintz Levin, Ms. Sternfield acted as an independent consultant, creating model forms for use by government attorneys in national health care fraud and abuse cases brought under the False Claims Act. During her 15 years with the Oregon Department of Justice, Ms. Sternfield handled numerous federal, national and state cases involving alleged violations of the False Claims Act, many of which were brought by qui tam whistleblowers; these cases often stemmed from allegations that defendants had engaged in complex health care billing fraud schemes. Ms Sternfield was also an active member of the National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units (NAMFCU) and assisted in the settlement of complex civil fraud cases, often as chair of the NAMFCU settlement team. Among the cases that she helped settle as part of the NAMFCU team were matters involving pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers. Prior to becoming the director of the Oregon Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, Ms. Sternfield served as an Oregon Senior Assistant Attorney General, after having begun her career as a trial attorney. She is a frequent speaker on issues related to health care fraud and abuse.
Like Ms. Sternfield, many attorneys in Mintz Levin’s Health Law Practice have held senior government positions or served as in-house counsel. The practice represents both for-profit and non-profit, domestic and international companies in connection with a wide variety of business and legal transactions, challenges and issues that they confront both on a daily basis and in bet-the-company matters. Clients span the full spectrum of the industry, including hospital systems, managed care organizations, laboratories, long-term care providers, durable medical equipment suppliers, behavioral health companies, pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, retail pharmacies and pharmacy benefit managers.
