Kristen McDermott Woodrum Partner

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Kristen focuses on transactions and regulatory matters for healthcare industry clients as a partner in the national healthcare practice of McGuireWoods. Kristen anticipates potential issues and provides practical counsel to clients in structuring complex healthcare deals, including mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and other transactions and contracting arrangements. Clients across the industry rely on Kristen’s deep healthcare experience and business-focused approach.

Kristen has extensive experience advising health systems and provider clients on strategic affiliations, physician alignment strategies and emerging healthcare delivery and payment models at the forefront of healthcare transformation. In representing private equity investors and their portfolio companies in financial transactions, Kristen’s understanding of healthcare policy and economics enables her to lead targeted diligence, optimize deal terms and advise clients on solutions for efficient expansion into new geographic territories and services. Kristen also provides post-deal healthcare counsel to help portfolio companies navigate complex regulatory requirements.

Drawing on her broad legal experience, Kristen also advises a range of healthcare clients on day-to-day operational and compliance matters, including Medicare/Medicaid requirements and reimbursement, licensure and accreditation, HIPAA and data sharing, telemedicine, federal and state fraud and abuse laws, such as the Stark Law, Anti-Kickback Statute and Civil Monetary Penalties Law, and other laws impacting healthcare transactions and operations, including fee-splitting and corporate practice of medicine laws.

Prior to earning her law degree and MBA at Tulane, Kristen held clinical and management positions in the behavioral health field. Kristen is a frequent author and speaker on healthcare transactions, regulations and policy developments and serves in leadership positions within healthcare, investment, and life sciences associations. 

“She is a great partner for structuring transactions – she never lets the ball drop and is very efficient.”  “She was outstanding.” — Chambers USA 2020

Experience

Strategic Affiliations and Healthcare Transactions

  • Represents national addiction treatment provider in strategic affiliation with academic medical center focused on treatment across the care continuum, research, and community outreach and education.
  • Advises private equity clients and lenders regarding potential investments and financing involving healthcare facilities, including analysis of licensure, change of ownership (CHOW), corporate practice, fraud and abuse, and other regulatory considerations. Also assists portfolio companies on day-to-day compliance matters.
  • Served as transactional and regulatory counsel to health system in acquisitions, joint ventures, and syndications involving 24 freestanding ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), including orthopedic (total joint), ophthalmology, urology, otolaryngology, gastroenterology, and other surgical specialties. Negotiated management arrangements with national and regional management companies.
  • Advised management services organization in arrangement with single-site physician practice and expansion to 52 practice locations across the country.
  • Served as regulatory counsel in sale of Catholic hospital in Ohio to academic medical center.
  • Represented tax-exempt health system in acquisition of 22 independent diagnostic testing facilities and related transactions with for-profit management company and multi-state health system and in 7 other imaging transactions involving MRI, PET, x-ray, ultrasound, nuclear imaging, mammogram, and other imaging modalities.
  • Represented non-profit health system in merger with another multi-campus hospital system, including oversight of due diligence and coordination of post-closing operational and regulatory plans.
  • Served as regulatory counsel in sale of Catholic hospitals in South Carolina to public company.
  • Advised health system in physician alignment transactions, including practice acquisitions, employment, medical director, response and call coverage agreements and other professional services arrangements.
  • Served as regulatory counsel in multiple acquisitions of home health agencies and durable medical equipment providers by private equity owned platform company
  • Represented hospital in joint venture with physical therapy provider with 18 locations.
  • Represented health system in acquisition of healthcare and ancillary facilities, including urgent care centers, ASCs, laboratories, and radiation therapy facilities.
  • Provided general and healthcare representation of large physician group practices and physician-owned ambulatory surgery centers, including preparation of governance documents, day-to-day operational and regulatory advice on healthcare issues, and assistance in structuring services agreements with hospital systems.

Emerging Healthcare Delivery and Payment Models

  • Served as lead healthcare counsel for joint venture investment in national platform company offering advanced patient-at-home services utilizing telehealth and remote-monitoring, including agreements for implementation of hospital-at-home services.
  • Assisted community hospital in development of clinically integrated network (CIN) of providers, including evaluation of corporate structure and regulatory issues and preparation of governance documents, participation agreements and CIN policies and procedures.
  • Represented a large multi-employer coalition of 50+ major private sector corporations, in data use, medical and pharmacy contracting strategies to transform and improve the purchase of healthcare through the members’ self-insured health plans representing over 7 million covered lives and $27 billion in annual healthcare spending.
  • Represented health system in development of direct-to-employer provider network, centers of excellence and related contracting strategies.
  • Assisted hospital systems in evaluating decisions concerning participation in Accountable Care Organizations, alternative payment models, and value-based programs, including entering, exiting, and reporting under the CMS Quality Payment Program.
  • Advised health system on unwind of PHO equity joint venture with community physicians.
  • Advised large national employer in establishing employee health clinics in connection with restructuring of health plan options.
  • Assisted in formation and arrangements of company providing on-site employer health clinic services to large national employers.
  • Assisted a self-funded health plan in structuring diabetes disease management program and negotiated relevant agreements.
  • Advised providers and vendors on implementing diabetes prevention program, TCM, and CCM.

Healthcare Regulatory and Compliance

  • Advised children’s hospital on health data use and sharing arrangements and assisted in establishment of HIPAA organized health care arrangement with affiliated managed care plan.
  • Served as regulatory counsel in acquisitions of digital health, telemedicine, telepharmacy/MTM and medical device companies by Fortune 50 healthcare services and products company.
  • Assists in coordination of healthcare due diligence in $2 billion acquisition of a charitable 501(c)(3) nonprofit health plan and its integrated delivery system. Assist in client’s evaluation and preliminary due diligence on other potential transactions across the country.
  • Advised public company on structuring cardiac monitoring agreements.
  • Advised nonprofit dialysis provider on dialysis joint ventures and physician contracting matters.
  • Advises digital health company on telehealth regulations and reimbursement.
  • Assists healthcare providers in implementation of telehealth, transitional care management and chronic care management.
  • Advised life sciences and medical device companies on marketing strategies and compliance with fraud and abuse laws, including beneficiary inducement laws and payor policies, and the AdvaMed Code of Ethics.
  • Represented healthcare clients, including manufacturers and distributors, in connection with State Pharmacy Board licensing and regulation requirements.
  • Advised a client in evaluating the applicability of insurance, independent practice association and independent adjuster licensing requirements and assisted in the successful defense of a NY Department of Insurance disciplinary proceeding.