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Rachel E. Yount

(she/her/hers)

Of Counsel

[email protected]

+1.202.434.7427

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Rachel’s practice involves a variety of regulatory, compliance, and transactional matters for a broad range clients across the health care industry, including health care systems, managed care organizations, pharmacies, device and pharmaceutical manufacturers, long-term and post-acute care providers, and private equity firms investing in the health care industry. 

Rachel combines her industry knowledge and her deep understanding of the complex legal frameworks regulating the health care industry to provide her clients with practical, strategic guidance that supports innovation and business objectives. She is particularly well versed in the federal anti-kickback statute, the Stark Law, state fraud and abuse laws, beneficiary inducement prohibitions, provider-based rules, Medicare and Medicaid program requirements, and the federal Physician Payments Sunshine Act. She routinely advises clients on the legal, practical, and fraud and abuse implications of business arrangements and sales and marketing practices.

Rachel regularly advise clients on the regulatory framework for value-based health care, including new and evolving CMS-sponsored payment models (e.g., ACO REACH, Medicare Shared Savings Program, Kidney Care Choices). She is particularly adept at assisting health care companies in navigating the anti-kickback statute safe harbors and Stark Law exceptions for value-based care.

Rachel frequently assists with implementing effective health care compliance programs for clients in various health care sectors, including pharmaceutical manufacturers, health systems, and managed care organizations, to name a few. She has assisted both with developing brand new compliance programs for health care companies just starting out and maturing existing compliance programs to support health care companies’ efforts to expand.

On the transactional side, Rachel frequently serves as health care regulatory counsel in both M&A transactions and private equity investments, involving managed care organizations, pharmacies, and a range of health care providers. She has experience in complex due diligence, contracting matters, identifying fraud and abuse risks, and advising on regulatory issues relevant to the target.

Previously, Rachel was a compliance attorney with Sentara Healthcare, a health care system with 12 acute care hospitals and more than 300 sites of care in Virginia and North Carolina. Focusing on the physician contracting process, Rachel developed strategic solutions to operational problems and provided legal support for compliance issues across the system. Her in-house experience informs her pragmatic, business-savvy counsel to health care industry clients.

Rachel is frequently invited to speak on health care fraud and abuse, compliance, and other health law matters. She is also an editor of and frequent contributor to the firm’s Health Care Viewpoints.
 

Experience

  • Served as health care regulatory counsel to TPG Capital as part of its joint acquisition of OneOncology with AmericsourceBergen.
  • Served as health care regulatory counsel to JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs in connection with the financing and bond offerings relating to the purchase of athenahealth by Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman.
  • Served as health care regulatory counsel to The Rise Fund in connection with its acquisition of Blue Cloud Pediatric Surgery Centers.
  • Conducted the due diligence and provided state and federal regulatory research and analysis in connection with TPG’s acquisition of Convey Health Solutions, a specialized health care technology company that provides health plan administration, supplemental benefits administration, and consulting services to health plans.
  • Served as health care regulatory specialist for a private equity-backed radiology services provider in multiple practice acquisitions.
  • Provided health care regulatory counsel in connection with a population health manager’s sale of a minority equity stake in its subsidiary to a large health care system.
  • Served as the Interim Chief Compliance Officer at CareSource, an Ohio managed care organization offering Medicaid, Medicare, and Marketplace plans.
  • Acted as special counsel for the initial public offering of Blued, China’s largest LGBT dating app and surrogacy facilitator.
  • Represented a health care provider in a self-disclosure to CMS for potential Stark Law violations.
  • Represented a health care provider under investigation by the Department of Justice for alleged violations of the anti-kickback statute and Stark Law.
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viewpoints

In the latest episode of Health Law Diagnosed – Women Leaders in Health Care, host Bridgette Keller is joined by women leaders in health care to discuss the emerging role of artificial intelligence (AI) in health care. This is the second episode of Mintz’s Women Leaders in Health Care – a series that highlights women leaders in the health care industry. In this episode, Jane Moran, Chief Information and Digital Officer at Mass General Brigham; Rebecca Mishuris, Chief Medical Information Officer and Vice President at Mass General Brigham; and Carina Edwards, Chief Executive Officer at Kipu Health discuss opportunities for enhanced patient-provider interactions and improvements in health care delivery through the use of AI.

Get to know Jane, Rebecca, and Carina as they answer questions on their career, their advice for women in the health care industry, and the meaning of success and mindfulness.
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As the Mintz Health Law team welcomes the beginning of 2024, many of its members take a moment to reflect on the exciting growth of the Health Law Practice, opportunities to partner with clients on complex legal issues, and the celebration of numerous milestones.
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A Virginia Federal Judge recently rejected a challenge to a negative Advisory Opinion issued by the Department of Health & Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) that disapproved of a proposal where certain pharmaceutical manufacturers would fund financial assistance for the manufacturers’ Part D oncology drugs. The Advisory Opinion was requested by the Pharmaceutical Coalition for Patient Access (PCPA), which is a charitable organization formed and fully funded by pharmaceutical manufacturers of oncology drugs. Subsequently, PCPA brought the lawsuit alleging that the negative Advisory Opinion violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
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The Office of Inspector General (OIG) started 2024 with a flurry of activity by issuing four new Advisory Opinions on January 3, 2024. In one of these Advisory Opinions, the OIG approved a vendor’s referral program that offered gift cards to physician practices that are existing customers in exchange for recommending the vendor’s services to prospective physician customers. In doing so, the OIG adopts a position that directly contradicts the position that the Department of Justice (DOJ) espoused in multiple False Claims Act (FCA) settlements involving similar referral programs offered by electronic health record (EHR) vendors in which the DOJ alleged these programs violated the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS).
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The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) published a General Compliance Program Guidance (GCPG) on November 6, 2023, marking the first update to OIG’s compliance program guidance documents (CPGs) since 2008 and advancing OIG’s Modernization Initiative first announced in a September 2021 Request for Information.
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In coordination with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) proposed a much-anticipated framework to establish and manage “appropriate disincentives” for health care providers under the Information Blocking Rules. As described in more detail in the blog post, the proposed rule (Appropriate Disincentives Proposed Rule) includes proposed disincentives for (i) hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) participating in the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program; health care providers eligible for Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) adjustments; and health care providers participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP).
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Perhaps, unsurprisingly, the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services (OIG) rejected a manufacturer’s proposal to provide free hearing aids to certain patients if they receive one of the manufacturer’s cochlear implant devices (Proposed Arrangement). In reaching its determination, the OIG reiterated its longstanding concern about free items or services to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries because such arrangements could result in steering and unfair competition. Of note, the free hearing aids have a retail value of $1,180 to $2,240 which far exceeds the $570 limit imposed under the only potentially relevant safe harbor – the patient engagement and support safe harbor.
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On August 15, 2023, the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services (OIG) issued a negative Advisory Opinion regarding a turnkey physician-owned entity (Newco) operated by an existing provider of intraoperative neuromonitoring (IONM) services. In reaching its determination, the OIG stated that Newco and its arrangements with the IONM Company would present a significant risk under the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) primarily because it exhibits many indicia of a suspect contractual joint venture.
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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a new primary care model—the Making Care Primary (MCP) Model—geared towards smaller, independent primary care practices and organizations that want to participate independently in value-based care initiatives. The MCP Model will be tested in eight states - Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, and Washington.
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Health care providers furnishing dementia care should take note of a new payment model announced by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on July 31, 2023, called Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience (GUIDE). GUIDE is designed to improve dementia care, reduce strain on unpaid caregivers, and help people with dementia remain in their homes and communities. Providers participating in GUIDE receive monthly per-beneficiary per-month payments, can bill for respite care services, and are eligible for one-time payments to support infrastructure.
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News & Press

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Mintz Member and Chair of the firm’s Health Law Practice Karen S. Lovitch and Associate Rachel E. Yount co-authored a two-part Law360 expert analysis series that examined key provisions of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ final rules amending the regulations implementing the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS), the Physician Self-Referral Law — commonly known as the Stark Law — and the civil monetary penalty rules regarding beneficiary inducements, and provided practical examples of how the industry can take advantage of these significant changes.
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Mintz Member and Chair of the firm’s Health Law Practice Karen S. Lovitch and Associate Rachel E. Yount co-authored a two-part Law360 expert analysis series that examined key provisions of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ final rules amending the regulations implementing the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS), the Physician Self-Referral Law — commonly known as the Stark Law — and the civil monetary penalty rules regarding beneficiary inducements, and provided practical examples of how the industry can take advantage of these significant changes.
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In an article published by Bloomberg Law, Mintz Associate Rachel Yount was quoted discussing the easing of state pharmacy laws surrounding COVID-19 and the benefit of getting out-of-state help when needed.
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Publications

Co-author, What Is...The Anti-Kickback Statute?, Second Edition, Published by the American Bar Association (2022)

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Recognition & Awards

  • Recognized by The Legal 500 United States for Healthcare: Service Providers (2021)

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Involvement

  • Member, American Health Lawyers Association (2011-present)
  • Member, Health Law Section, American Bar Association (2016-present)
  • Vice Chair, Health Law Committee of the Young Lawyers Division, American Bar Association (2017-2018)
  • Member, Health Care Compliance Association (2014-2016)
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