AHLA's Fundamentals of Health Law Conference is a valuable training program for new associates and in-house counsel and also an excellent refresher for experienced health lawyers. The program's faculty not only dispenses their knowledge of legal issues, but they also provide insight into the challenges ahead in order to help attendees build an effective legal practice. The networking opportunities with other new associates, in-house counsel, and the Association's leaders are an invaluable experience.

Associate Erin Atkins will present alongside Errin Simpkins, former Reed Smith associate and current Senior Corporate Counsel at Omnicare. Erin and Errin's presentation will cover the following:

• The defining characteristics of long term care, home health, and hospice providers, the range of services these entities provide, and generally what populations they serve
• Reimbursement basics: How Medicare and Medicaid cover and pay for nursing home, home health, and hospice care
• Unique operational challenges faced by these providers:
  • Staffing, care coordination, and quality challenges
  • Patients living longer, hospitals discharging patients with complex care needs, nursing facilities treating far more seriously ill patients (often with multiple co-morbidities)
  • The panoply of documentation requirements for home health agencies and hospices to substantiate the medical necessity of their services
  • Maintaining compliance with state licensure and conditions of participation requirements
• Fraud and abuse and issue spotting for the new health care attorney: Effective compliance programs, significant enforcement actions, and hidden minefields
• Challenges and opportunities for nursing homes, home health agencies, and hospices with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act

Register here.