Grand Rapids law firm forms health care law practice group, hires six

By: Deborah Johnson Wood

Grand Rapids law firm Rhoades McKee has formed a new practice group whose focus is to assist physicians and health care organizations with health law issues. The Health Law Practice Group pulls together lawyers who each have expertise in health law and expertise in other areas of law, as well.

The legal issues physicians and hospitals face can touch on tax law, real estate law, environmental law, fraud, criminal defense work, liability and more.

"Health care is the highest regulated industry in the country because it's driven by taxpayer dollars and because we care about the quality of care we're receiving," says John Lichtenberg, an attorney and chair of the practice group.

"There's significant movement back to hospital-based or hospital-owned physician practice groups," Lichtenberg says. "It's a product of economic pressures on physicians and the structure of the payment systems where they're left to try to negotiate with large insurance companies and the federal government for Medicaid and Medicare. They form physicians' groups to provide themselves with some sort of protection and seamless health care to patients."

Lichtenberg expects the new health practice group will focus on physicians and their physician practice groups.

"These issues become unusually complicated with the huge nonprofit entities that are major players in the health care industry," Lichtenberg adds. "Because they are so involved in so many transactions, they touch many individual physicians and practice groups and they touch other nonprofits such as the Van Andel Institute, as well as for-profit entities."

This year, Rhoades McKee added four experienced lawyers and a lawyer just out of school. Another new grad joins the firm later this year.

"My hope is to see our health law practice group grow," Lichtenberg says, "and to help in the transformation of the health care industry here in Grand Rapids."

Source: John Lichtenberg, Rhoades McKee

Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].