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Practices:
Senior Care
Senior care facilities encompass a wide range of activities and services, provided within a variety of settings: from long-term care, assisted-living and memory-support facilities, to continuing care retirement communities and independent-living apartments. If you have management or trusteeship responsibilities for any of these operations, you know that they share common concerns, among them: reimbursement issues, risks of litigation, need for liability insurance, regulatory oversight of everything from the provision of care to capital expansion, and competitive pressures leading to joint-venture and acquisition transactions. As the demand for senior-living and senior-care services continues to grow, having experienced legal guidance on finance, government regulation, tax exemption, reimbursement, and numerous other concerns is a must.
Comprehensive Counsel
Ungaretti & Harris provides the kind of comprehensive counsel that senior care providers need. Our lawyers have a well-established state practice, as well as a national reputation and practice, with clients stretching from California and Arizona to Florida and Maine. Providers and major trade groups, such as the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, the Assisted Living Federation of America, and American Association of Senior Housing, have turned to us for representation. Like them, you will get the benefit of sophisticated transactional, regulatory, dispute resolution, litigation and general corporate counseling, integrated and customized to meet your specific needs.
Corporate Needs
From facilitating horizontal alliances of long-term care providers to providing financing through private equity funds, investment banks, and the bond market, we meet the full range of corporate needs for senior care facilities, including:
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Assistance with the formation of joint ventures, limited liability companies and corporations for ownership and operation of senior care facilities. [Link to our Joint Venture Practice] -
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Maintenance of 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, including effective preparation of Form 990 (reporting on your mission, programs and finances) and Form 1023 (application for exemption). [Link to our Charity Care Practice]
Litigation and Insurance
Plaintiffs’ lawyers increasingly target senior care facilities for lawsuits over alleged negligence and breach of contract. Much of this litigation centers on healthcare problems that are an inevitable part of aging and in no way indicative of negligence. The result: you find it harder to get insurance at reasonable rates. Ungaretti & Harris has responded by leading in the formation of Continuing Care Insurance Company, a Cayman offshore captive insurer that covers approximately 70,000 nursing-home and senior-housing units owned by the shareholders of 29 providers. Such an innovative solution typifies how you benefit from legal counsel that knows the concerns and complexities facing the industry.
Medicare and Medicaid
A large portion of Medicare and Medicaid spending is used each year to cover nursing home care and services for the elderly and disabled, which makes interacting with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and state survey agencies a primary concern. The administrators of senior care facilities nationwide turn to us for guidance and representation in such important issues as:
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Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement compliance.
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Submital of required CMS reports on resident incidents, with particular focus on proactively addressing potential allegations of abuse or neglect.
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Representation in CMS reimbursement or resident care proceedings.
Licensure, Survey and Certification
When your healthcare organization is faced with a survey or when you require a certificate of need and new license for a newly created facility, Ungaretti & Harris attorneys have the expertise to assist. Our attorneys work closely with the healthcare licensing divisions in several states, particularly with the Illinois Department of Public Health, from the creation and licensure of healthcare facilities to subsequent survey issues. We also assist senior-care facilities with various certification and accreditation issues.
True Appreciation
A true appreciation for the importance of senior-care services and the challenges of such a service environment is perhaps one of the most important advantages your legal counsel can offer you. Patient-care issues, business concerns, and regulatory compliance all create unique problems that are most efficiently through the joint efforts of legal counsel and provider personnel. Ungaretti & Harris lawyers handle the legal issues of senior-care providers and owners, both locally and across the country, by working in partnership with them in addressing their responsibilities and in dealing with market realities.
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