Joan W. Feldman

Navigating Changing Regulatory Environments

Navigating and responding to changing or new laws and regulations is a continual opportunity for healthcare stakeholders to get it right. Joan emphasizes innovation and problem solving, allowing her clients to receive their desired results.

Joan delivers regular, practical guidance on the rapid-fire regulatory developments emerging from federal and state agencies. She helps her clients understand industry trends better, manage legal challenges, ensure compliance, and mount practical, effective responses to operational and care-delivery challenges. Joan collaborates with her clients to “anticipate and skate to where the puck will be next.” Joan is also the Interim Privacy Officer for UConn Health. 

Joan and her team of healthcare regulatory and transactions lawyers provide legal representation to Attorneys General Offices, providing expert guidance on material transactions that may impact public policy, regulatory compliance, or the interests of the state. We assist in navigating complex legal frameworks surrounding acquisitions, mergers, and other significant business dealings, ensuring that these transactions align with the state's laws and regulatory requirements. Our team works closely with Attorneys General to assess the legal, financial, and ethical implications of each transaction, helping to protect public interests and maintain transparency. With a deep understanding of both state and federal regulations, we help facilitate these transactions while minimizing risks and ensuring full legal compliance.

Health Care Regulatory and Administrative Matters

As a highly experienced healthcare lawyer, Joan takes the work out of regulatory compliance for her clients. With a vast knowledge of federal and state laws and regulations, she helps clients develop and implement risk-management programs and guidance that create effective compliance cultures. From conducting Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute audits and analyses to helping align compliance and business strategies, she regularly advises on the full range of matters which also include:

• Certificate of need proceedings and determination requests
• State and federal Licensure and certification matters, including allegations of immediate jeopardy
• Corporate compliance, compliance programs, compliance investigations, and corrective actions
• Corporate governance and best practices
• Government audits and investigations, including false claim and overpayment allegations
• Health information privacy, including HIPAA, data security, breach reporting, and data innovation
• Medical staff governance, discipline, and credentialing
• Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement claims
• Clinical and translational research issues
• Administrative appeals, including rate appeals

Joan is a “go to” certificate of need attorney, effectively representing applicants and intervenors with aplomb.

When civil or criminal litigation arises, Joan collaborates closely with the firm’s trial and appellate teams to develop effective strategies for plaintiffs and defendants, and routinely drafts briefs that present clear, compelling arguments on the most complex of healthcare subjects.

Health Care Transactions and Strategy

Joan also counsels clients at every step of the business lifecycle, including:

• Corporate formation and governance (for-profit and not-for-profit entities)
• Mergers, acquisitions, affiliations, joint ventures, partnerships, physician/hospital strategic alliances, and other combinations
• Clinically integrated networks
• New facilities and advising on licensure and reimbursement issues
• Managed care contracting, including risk-sharing arrangements

Community Leader and Health Care Industry Advocate

In addition to her client work, Joan is a recognized thought leader on health law issues. She frequently speaks and writes on subjects of interest to health care providers, including compliance, medical ethics, regulatory and reimbursement matters, and health care fraud.