Healthcare Lawyer for Physician Group Practices in Washington, DC and Virginia
G2Z Law Group, PLLC is a Washington, DC healthcare law firm that represents independent physician group practices in the District of Columbia and Virginia, and in federal matters nationwide. Our founding attorney, Reza Ghafoorian, MD, JD, has focused on healthcare law since 2009. We represent practices and the physicians who own them, not hospitals or health systems.
Do you represent multi-physician group practices?
Yes. We represent groups of two or more physicians, from new partnerships to established multi-specialty practices. Our clients include medical PLLCs, professional corporations and practices that work with management services organizations (MSOs). We serve as outside general counsel for healthcare matters, so the group has one attorney who knows its structure, its contracts and its history.
Can you review our buy-sell or operating agreement for healthcare compliance?
Most group practice questions fall into a few areas:
Owner agreements: healthcare regulatory review of operating, shareholder and buy-sell agreements, including physician buyouts and admitting new partners
Physician agreements: employment and independent contractor agreements, compensation plans and restrictive covenants
Fraud and abuse: Stark Law and Anti-Kickback reviews of compensation, referrals, leases and in-office services
Management and vendors: MSO and management services agreements, EMR and billing contracts, and HIPAA business associate agreements
Operations: supervision of nurse practitioners and physician assistants, prescribing rules, and new service lines
When regulators call: board complaints, audits, Medicaid compliance and patient refunds, and subpoenas for medical records
Can you review our buy-sell or operating agreement for healthcare compliance?
Yes, and we prefer it. Many of our group practice engagements come through, or alongside, the practice’s business attorney. Your business attorney handles the corporate, tax and general business work. We handle the healthcare regulatory questions. We do not take over the general corporate relationship. If you do not have a business attorney, ask us during your free consultation and we will explain how we can help.
What legal issues do group practices bring to us?
Yes. A group practice’s owner agreement can be well drafted as a business document and still create healthcare regulatory problems. We review owner agreements for the issues that apply to medical practices, including:
Whether ownership, transfer and buyout terms meet professional entity and licensing requirements in DC and Virginia
Whether profit distributions and productivity bonuses fit the Stark Law’s group practice rules
Whether payments between owners, or to outside investors or managers, raise Anti-Kickback concerns
What happens to a physician’s ownership if their license is restricted or they are excluded from Medicare or Medicaid
How medical records, patient notices and payer enrollment are handled when an owner leaves
Whether restrictive covenants are enforceable for physicians in DC and Virginia, which treat noncompete agreements differently
We report what we find, explain the options, and provide the revised language, so your business attorney can finalize the agreement.
How do the Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute affect a group practice?
Both laws shape how a group can pay its physicians and which services it can offer in-house.
Stark Law. A practice that bills Medicare for designated health services, such as imaging or lab work, generally has to meet the Stark definition of a “group practice” to use the in-office ancillary services exception. That definition limits how productivity bonuses and profit shares can be calculated. See 42 U.S.C. § 1395nn, 42 C.F.R. § 411.352 and 42 C.F.R. § 411.355(b).
Anti-Kickback Statute. This statute makes it a crime to pay or receive anything of value to induce referrals of federal healthcare program business. It reaches leases, medical director agreements, marketing arrangements and management fees. See 42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7b(b).
We review compensation plans and referral arrangements before they are signed, when fixing them costs the least.
What should we do when a physician leaves the group?
Start with the owner agreement and the physician’s employment agreement. Then address patient notification, custody of and access to medical records, payer enrollment and credentialing, the buyout, and any restrictive covenant. A planned departure costs far less than a disputed one. We help groups handle both.
What if our practice receives a board complaint, audit or payer demand?
Call before you respond. The first response to a licensing board, Medicaid auditor, payer or the HHS Office for Civil Rights often shapes the rest of the matter. We represent practices and their physicians before DC and Virginia health licensing boards, in Medicaid audits and refund matters, and in responses to records subpoenas and privacy inquiries.
Why choose a boutique firm instead of a large healthcare firm?
Large healthcare firms often represent hospitals and health systems, and their rates reflect that. We focus on independent practices and the people who run them. You work directly with a healthcare attorney with medical training, who answers his own phone and email. Before work begins, we give you a fee estimate.
How much does it cost to hire you?
The first 30-minute consultation is free. After we review your documents, we give you an estimate or capped fee estimate before any work begins. Most document reviews are finished in about seven to 10 business days after we receive the documents, depending on scope.
How do we get started?
Book a free 30-minute consultation, or call (202) 656-8387. You’ll speak directly with Reza Ghafoorian, MD, JD.