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Bridgette A. Keller

Of Counsel

[email protected]

+1.212.692.6735

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Bridgette advises clients in the health insurance industry, including managed care organizations, PBMs, and integrated delivery systems, ACOs, and providers on a variety of regulatory, fraud and abuse, and business planning matters. Her practice centers on compliance with federal health care program regulatory requirements, with a focus on reimbursement issues and value-based contracting.

Bridgette regularly counsels clients regarding risk-adjusted reimbursement programs and the practices that support them, including Medicare Advantage Organizations (MAOs) and ACOs participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP). Bridgette has experience conducting and defending investigations regarding fraud and abuse issues, including billing compliance related to Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE. She also works closely with discount medical plans (DMPOs) and other clients in the health care industry on matters relating to compliance with state regulations.

Bridgette is interested in value-based healthcare. She works closely with payors, providers, and ACOs, on a variety of innovative collaborations and has experience negotiating and papering these relationships.

With a background in health care operations, Bridgette is able to provide clients with practical insight that includes a focus on the business implications of health care regulatory and compliance, internal investigations, and fraud and abuse analyses of proposed new procedures. Bridgette applies her experience in health system administration and ethics in health care to her health law practice.  Prior to practicing law, she worked as a health care ethicist at the Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for Ethics in Health Care (NCEHC) and held other health system operations positions within VHA.

Most recently, Bridgette began hosting Health Law Diagnosed, Mintz’s health law podcast and she is a frequent author on Mintz’s Health Law Viewpoints.

Experience

  • Counsels clients regarding Medicare Advantage risk adjustment compliance, including responses to OIG and CMS RADV audits.
  • Assists with communication and advocacy with federal health care program regulators, including CMS and the HHS OIG.
  • Drafts and negotiates complex services agreements between health plans and PBMs.  
  • Monitors changes and developments in state laws that impact the PBM industry and other related stakeholders.
  • Conducts internal investigations into potential fraud and abuse matters and manage multiple key stakeholders.
  • Develops and implements compliance reviews to recommend and identify compliance best practices.
  • Assisted with the defense and settlement of a five-year False Claims Act investigation conducted by multiple U.S. Attorney’s Offices and DOJ’s Civil Division on behalf of a national health care provider. We successfully convinced the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services not to pursue a Corporate Integrity Agreement.
  • Represented a national health care provider in a False Claims Act investigation conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. The government ultimately declined to intervene, and the relator chose to voluntarily dismiss the case.
  • Assisted with the defense of a diagnostics company in a national criminal and civil investigation involving multiple US Attorneys’ Offices and state Attorneys' General Offices. The investigation involved alleged kickback issues and billing violations.
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viewpoints

GAO Studies Use of PBMs in Medicare Part D

August 27, 2019 | Blog | By Bridgette Keller

GAO recently released a report analyzing the use of pharmacy benefit managers (“PBMs”) and efforts to manage drug spending and use in the Medicare Part D program. Importantly, the report found that use of PBMs reduced Part D spending in 2016 by 20%, from $145 billion to $116 billon, through drug price rebates.
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CMS Finalizes Medicare Advantage and Part D Drug Pricing Rule

May 28, 2019 | Blog | By Bridgette Keller, Daryl Berke, Lauren Moldawer

Earlier this month, CMS issued a final rule aimed at lowering drug prices and reducing out-of-pocket expenses in Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D. This rule is the Administration’s latest effort to address prescription drug prices and builds off the Administration’s Blueprint to Lower Drug Prices and Reduce Out-of-Pocket Costs and arrive on the heels of CMS publishing a rule requiring the disclosure of drug prices in TV ads. Below we’ve provided a brief overview of the major provisions in the final rule, noting changes from the proposed rule that was issued in November 2018.
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Surprise Medical Bills Gain National Attention

March 21, 2019 | Blog | By Bridgette Keller

No one wants to be faced with a large, unexpected medical bill after receiving health care services. Unfortunately, patients often find themselves in this situation after seeking emergency treatment or transportation, undergoing a surgical procedure, or even the birth of a child. These “surprise medical bills” occur when the patient goes to a hospital or facility that is “in-network” with the patient’s health plan, but the physician providing the services is not and is considered “out-of-network” or “OON.” This issue found its way back to the national stage this week, with several important highlights.
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CMS Proposes Changes to Medicare Advantage Program for CY 2020

February 6, 2019 | Blog | By Xavier Hardy, Bridgette Keller

CMS recently proposed several important changes for the Medicare Advantage (MA) program that relate to payment, benefit design, and new actions to combat the opioid crisis. Here, we take a look at the proposed changes to risk adjustment payments, supplemental benefits, and a value-based insurance design model; all working toward CMS’s goal of maximizing coverage and competition. In a prior post we discussed CMS’s Part D Payment Modernization Model and stay tuned for our upcoming discussion of CMS’s next steps to combat opioid misuse.
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DOJ Follows Through on a 2018 New Years’ Resolution: Rein In Qui Tam Actions

December 20, 2018 | Blog | By Laurence Freedman, Bridgette Keller

Along with most of us, last January DOJ set its own goals for 2018: new policies related to False Claims Act (“FCA”) enforcement. One such “resolution” for 2018 was the DOJ Civil Fraud section’s instruction to its attorneys and all AUSAs handling FCA cases to routinely consider whether declined qui tam actions should be dismissed under the Department’s authority in Section 3730(c)(2)(A) of the FCA, which it had rarely used from 1986 through 2017. Known as the “Granston Memo” (which we discuss here) and now codified in the Justice Manual, the central theme of the instruction is that seeking dismissal of qui tam actions may be in the government’s interest to “preserve limited resources and avoid adverse precedent.” We are now seeing the first evidence of DOJ following through on that resolution.
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OIG Says Proposed MCO Incentive Program Protected by AKS Safe Harbor

November 19, 2018 | Blog | By Bridgette Keller

In its favorable Advisory Opinion 18-11, the OIG explains how a managed care organization’s proposed incentive program to pay network providers to increase the amount of Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment (EPSDT) services provided to Medicaid beneficiaries would not violate the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS).  What is interesting about this Advisory Opinion is that the OIG finds that the health plan’s proposed arrangement would be protected by the managed care safe harbor for eligible managed care organizations (ECMOs), and there are not many opinions addressing this safe harbor.
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Medicare Advantage Organizations (MAOs) have been hailing a federal judge’s recent ruling to vacate the 2014 Overpayment Rule. But, how did we get here? And what does it really mean for MAOs?
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New Jersey Regulates Out-Of-Network Billing

August 31, 2018 | Blog | By Bridgette Keller, Hope Foster

News alert for all New Jersey health care providers! A new law went into effect yesterday (August 30, 2018) that changes billing requirements for out-of-network services in New Jersey.
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Mintz Levin Health Care Qui Tam Update - August 2018

August 7, 2018 | Article | By Hope Foster, Kevin McGinty, Bridgette Keller

In this issue, we provide an overview of 46 recently unsealed qui tam cases and take an in-depth look at four of those cases. Two of the featured cases were filed by patients, a rare but growing category of relators, in one instance using supporting data from the CMS Medicare database. In addition, we discuss health care qui tam litigation trends based on filings in the 12-month period that ended on June 30, 2018, including the government’s intervention rate and the percentage of cases filed by customers, business partners, consultants, patients, and other nontraditional relators.
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CMS Focuses on a Modern Medicare

July 23, 2018 | Blog | By Bridgette Keller

Earlier this month, CMS proposed changes to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and Quality Payment Program with the goal of “modernizing Medicare and restoring the doctor-patient relationship.”
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News & Press

Press Release Thumbnail Mintz

NEW YORK – Mintz is pleased to announce that 18 attorneys have been named New York Metro Super Lawyers and 11 attorneys have been named New York Metro Rising Stars by Super Lawyers for 2023.

Press Release Thumbnail Mintz

17 Mintz attorneys have been named New York Metro Super Lawyers and nine Mintz attorneys have been named New York Metro Rising Stars by Super Lawyers for 2022.

Press Release Thumbnail Mintz
Mintz is advising a consortium of investors led by TPG Capital and Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe in their acquisition of Kindred Healthcare, Inc. The definitive agreement totals approximately $4.1 billion in cash including the assumption or repayment of net debt.
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podcasts

Health Law Diagnosed – Health Care Transaction Review Laws and the New Normal

April 24, 2025 | Podcast | By Bridgette Keller, Deborah Daccord, Daniel Cody

Host Bridgette Keller is joined by Members Deb Daccord and Dan Cody to discuses the evolving legislative and regulatory landscape impacting healthcare transactions, particularly for private equities and hedge funds.

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Health Law Diagnosed – Understanding the New Massachusetts Health Care Market Review Law

March 11, 2025 | Podcast | By Bridgette Keller, Deborah Daccord, Kate Stewart, Cassandra Paolillo

Host Bridgette Keller discusses the new Massachusetts Health Care Market Review Law and what this means for health care providers, investors, and other key stakeholders. She is joined by Member Deb Daccord, Of Counsel Cassie Paolillo, and Of Counsel Kate Stewart, who share their insights on the law’s far-reaching implications.

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Health Law Diagnosed – New Year's Gratitude

February 3, 2025 | Podcast | By Bridgette Keller, Alison H. Peters, Samantha Kingsbury, Theresa Carnegie, Joanne Hawana, Abdie Santiago, Stephnie John, Pamela Polevoy, Karen Lovitch, Jean D. Mancheno, Deborah Daccord, Rachel A. Alexander, Jane Haviland, David Gilboa, Kathryn Edgerton, Hassan Shaikh, Madison Castle, Laurence Freedman, Priyanka Amirneni, Samantha Hawkins, Tara E. Dwyer, Rachel Yount, Sophia Temis, Xavier Hardy

Host Of Counsel Bridgette Keller invites the Mintz Health Law team to reflect on what they’re grateful for as they prepare for the year ahead. Hear from a dynamic group of Members, Of Counsel, and Associates as they share their perspectives on what’s coming up over the horizon.

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Health Law Diagnosed – The 2024 Election and Health Care Policy

January 16, 2025 | Podcast | By Bridgette Keller, Alexander Hecht

Host Of Counsel Bridgette Keller is joined by Alex Hecht, ML Strategies Executive Vice President & Director of Operations, Washington, DC, as they dive into potential health care policy changes on the horizon following the 2024 election and what stakeholders can expect in 2025.

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Host Bridgette Keller, joined by Lauren Edgerton, Healthcare Director at Piper Sandler, and Kathryne Cooper, Partner at Jumpstart Nova leads a conversation around investing in women's health.

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In the latest episode of Health Law Diagnosed – Women Leaders in Health Care, host Bridgette Keller leads a conversation around the emerging role of artificial intelligence (AI) in health care.

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Health Law Diagnosed – A Discussion on the Regulatory Requirements for LDTs

March 7, 2024 | Podcast | By Bridgette Keller, Joanne Hawana, Benjamin Zegarelli

In this episode of Health Law Diagnosed, host Bridgette Keller is joined by Mintz Health Law attorneys Joanne Hawana and Benjamin Zegarelli to discuss the FDA’s long-awaited proposed rules that actively regulate laboratory developed tests (LDTs).

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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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In the inaugural episode of our new series of Health Law Diagnosed titled Women Leaders in Health Care, host Bridgette Keller speaks with in-house attorneys Leah Pollema of InhibRx and Serene Katranji of Orchard Laboratories about the importance of mentorship. 

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Health Law Diagnosed – CA Proposes Regs for Pre-Closing Review of Health Care Deals: What You Need to Know

August 21, 2023 | Podcast | By Lara Compton, Deborah Daccord, Bridgette Keller, Daria Niewenhous

Mintz Health Law attorneys discuss regulations recently proposed by California’s newly established Office of Health Care Affordability, which call for advance regulatory review of certain health care entity mergers, acquisitions, affiliations, and other arrangements.

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Recognition & Awards

  • Included on the New York Super Lawyers Rising Star: Health Care list (2020-2023)

  • ABA-BNA Award for Excellence in the Study of Health Law

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Involvement

  • Member, American Health Lawyers Association (AHLA)
  • Member, American Bar Association (ABA)
  • Member, American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE)
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