Kathleen is Senior Counsel and Strategic Advisor to the Life Sciences Health Industry Group. She practices in the area of health care litigation and counseling. From 2005 until she rejoined Reed Smith in July 2007, she was the Chief Counsel for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Associate General Counsel of HHS. In that position, she served as the principal legal counselor to the Administrator of CMS on all aspects of CMS’s programs, including Medicare reimbursement to all categories of providers and suppliers, national coverage determinations, fraud and abuse, Medicaid finance, and litigation strategy in cases involving the Medicare or Medicaid programs. In addition to advising the Administrator, Kathleen routinely participated in policy development and decision meetings in which she advised other senior Department officials. Kathleen worked closely with the Administrator to resolve the novel legal issues that arose in connection with the implementation of the Medicare Part D Prescription Drug program and the operation of the program through the critical first two years of its existence.
Prior to her tenure as Chief Counsel for CMS, Kathleen was a partner at Reed Smith specializing in litigation on behalf of health care providers and pharmaceutical manufacturers. She successfully guided many of the firm’s health care clients through fraud and abuse investigations conducted by DOJ, the OIG, and United States Attorneys Offices across the country. She has represented pharmaceutical companies, SNFs, hospitals, DME suppliers and HMOs in numerous False Claims Act cases. In addition, she has represented providers and manufacturers in general commercial litigation, including antitrust and RICO cases.
