Cassie’s practice primarily involves advising health care clients on transactional and regulatory matters, including mergers and acquisitions, regulatory compliance, and general contracting.
Throughout her career, Cassie has worked with providers, payors, and individual patients, so she understands the unique challenges facing clients in the ever-changing health care landscape.
Prior to joining Mintz, Cassie worked as in-house counsel at a national senior living company. There she advised the business on matters related to state and federal health care regulations, physician arrangements, reimbursement, fraud and abuse, and HIPAA/privacy. She also oversaw all contracting matters for the company’s skilled nursing division.
Cassie’s in-house experience informs current her practice, enabling her to anticipate and relate to clients’ legal and business needs.
During her time at Suffolk University Law School, Cassie had the privilege of representing indigent clients before the Social Security Administration and Suffolk Probate Court as a student attorney with the school’s Health Law Clinic. She also served as Editor-in-Chief of Suffolk’s Journal of Health & Biomedical Law.
Education
- Suffolk University Law School (JD, summa cum laude)
- Boston College (BA, cum laude)
Involvement
- Member, American Health Law Association
- Member, Boston Bar Association
- Board Member, South Boston Collaborative Center
Recent Insights
Viewpoints
Viewpoints
Telehealth Update: CMS Proposed CY 2021 Payment Policies, Extension of the Public Health Emergency, Increasing Access after COVID-19, and the Coronavirus Stimulus Package
August 5, 2020 | Blog | By Cassandra Paolillo, Ellen Janos
On August 4, CMS posted a proposed rule on CY 2021 Payment Policies, which included important updates about the expansion of Medicare covered telehealth services due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we cover this and other important developments related to telehealth access during the pandemic and beyond.
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Senate HELP Committee Signals Support for Permanently Expanding Telehealth Access
June 24, 2020 | Blog | By Cassandra Paolillo, Ellen Janos
Last week, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (“Senate HELP”) held a hearing entitled “Telehealth: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic," during which the Committee members expressed support for permanently expanding access to telehealth services. In this blog post, we discuss the Committee's proposals and the additional steps needed to permanently expand access to telehealth.
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CMS Administrator Verma Calls for Permanent Expansion of Telehealth Access after COVID-19. Will States Follow Suit?
June 10, 2020 | Blog | By Cassandra Paolillo, Ellen Janos
In an interview yesterday, CMS administrator Seema Verma expressed support for permanently expanding access to telehealth services after the COVID-19 public health emergency resolves. Here, we explore the nature and duration of the temporary executive and regulatory orders, emergency legislation, and sub-regulatory guidance, which have resulted greater access to telehealth while leaving a fair amount of uncertainty as to what the future of telehealth looks like.
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Not So Sweet: Failure to Timely Recall Contaminated Ice Cream Results in Major Consequences for Texas Manufacturer
May 11, 2020 | Blog | By Joanne Hawana, Cassandra Paolillo
Earlier this month, Blue Bell Creameries L.P. (Blue Bell) agreed to plead guilty to charges that it distributed contaminated ice cream products that were linked to a 2015 listeriosis outbreak. The Blue Bell outbreak made headlines in 2015, largely because it resulted in multiple cases of listeriosis and, tragically, three deaths. Aside from the obvious health-related consequences to the public and reputational harm to the nationally-known manufacturer of sweet treats, the basis for the various charges and causes of action related to the outbreak demonstrate the broad range of legal consequences, both civil and criminal, that can result from the failure to address food safety requirements and regulatory compliance more generally.
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Part 2 Proposed Rule Brings Clarity and Reduces Regulatory Burdens for Substance Use Disorder Providers, but Challenges Remain
September 3, 2019 | Blog | By Dianne Bourque, Cassandra Paolillo
On August 22, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (“SAMHSA”) announced a new proposed rule (the “Proposed Rule”) amending 42 CFR part 2 (“Part 2”), which is aimed at protecting patient records created by federally funded programs for the treatment of substance use disorder (“SUD”). The Proposed Rule is aimed at alleviating these concerns within the constraints of the underlying statute, while also addressing the increasingly urgent need to streamline SUD services in light of the opioid epidemic. Here we’ll discuss some of the major changes under the Proposed Rule while highlighting the challenges that remain.
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Recent Executive Order Makes the Road to Increased Healthcare Transparency Unclear
July 2, 2019 | Blog | By Cassandra Paolillo
Last week, President Trump signed an “Executive Order on Improving Price and Quality Transparency in American Healthcare to Put Patients First.” The order, which “seeks to enhance the ability of patients to choose the healthcare that is best for them,” includes a number of provisions requiring the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, Treasury and others to pass regulations to increase transparency for patients. The following is a summary of the executive order and a brief overview of what providers and others in the healthcare industry can anticipate going forward.
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Mintz and ML Strategies Host the 4th Annual Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Industry Summit
May 10, 2019 | Blog | By Cassandra Paolillo
Last week, Mintz and ML Strategies welcomed stakeholders and thought leaders from across the pharmacy and pharmaceutical industry to the Boston Office for the 4th Annual Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Industry Summit.
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Judge Dismisses FCA Claims Against Compounding Pharmacy and Private Equity Firm Owner but Allows the Government to Amend
March 13, 2019 | Blog | By Karen Lovitch, Cassandra Paolillo
Last week, a U.S. district court judge in the Southern District of Florida upheld a magistrate judge’s decision to dismiss False Claims Act (FCA) allegations against a compounding pharmacy, its private equity firm owner, and two individuals. DOJ filed its complaint in intervention last February against the pharmacy, Patient Care America (PCA); its private equity backer, Riordan Lewis & Haden, Inc.; and two individual executives. The government alleged that the parties engaged in an illegal kickback scheme that resulted in the submission of false claims to TRICARE for expensive compounded drugs. This case is reportedly the first in which the federal government intervened against a private equity firm owner.
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Independent Laboratory Settles Medical Necessity Allegations
February 20, 2019 | Blog | By Karen Lovitch, Cassandra Paolillo
The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced a $1.99 million False Claims Act (FCA) settlement with GenomeDx Biosciences Corp. (“GenomeDx”), a laboratory headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia with operations in San Diego. The matter arose as the result of a qui tam case brought by two former employees in September 2017.
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OIG Advisory Opinion Allows Routine Waiver of Federal Cost-Sharing Obligations
January 18, 2019 | Blog | By Karen Lovitch, Cassandra Paolillo
In an Advisory Opinion posted earlier this week, the OIG gave the green light to a charitable pediatric clinic’s routine waiver of patient cost-sharing amounts on the basis. The OIG’s analysis hinged on several factors that, taken together, led the OIG to refrain from exercising its enforcement discretion.
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