BKBH's health care attorneys in Montana provide a wide range of legal services addressing the legal needs of health care providers, insurers and facilities. Health care entities require all kinds of legal services ranging from relatively routine legal questions to complicated legal tasks that address increasingly complex state and federal laws.

In the sections below, some of the relevant legal experiences of BKBH's Montana-based health care attorneys are summarized.

Medicare & Medicaid Issues
Participation in Medicare and Medicaid programs requires consideration of a complex array of legal issues, including potential for fraud and abuse, anti-kickback, and False Claims Act liability. BKBH's health care attorneys routinely assist acute and long-term care facilities, clinics, and integrated delivery systems with compliance on Medicare and Medicaid issues.

Health Care & Antitrust Compliance
Legal representation for antitrust compliance falls into two main categories: first, providing for antitrust compliance during the formation of the entity; and second, antitrust counsel for the entitie's ongoing activities where appropriate. BKBH calls upon relationships with nationally recognized law firms to ensure antitrust compliance of its health care clients. To avoid antitrust problems, review of a Health Care Provider's contractual arrangements should be ongoing.

Health Care Contracting
Numerous legal considerations apply to health care contracting, including compliance with antitrust, insurance and securities laws. BKBH's health care attoneys will assist in reviewing, negotiating, and drafting health care contracts with employers, state agencies, national health care networks and vendors. To the extent parties contracting with a health care provider may require the use of their own documents, BKBH's health care attorneys would advise as to the legal effect of such agreements and assist in negotiations where appropriate.

Hospital Law
BKBH health care attorneys provided legal services to hospitals, physicians, and other health care institutions and practitioners on a wide variety of matters. These services include addressing such matters as certificate of need and facility licensure; medical staff privileges and corrective action; professional licensing and investigations by licensing agencies; physician recruitment and retention, managed care; alternate health care delivery systems; medical group practices, provider networks, professional corporations and partnerships; joint ventures; Medicare and Medicaid fraud and abuse; state and federal self-referral; compliance with HIPAA ( the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act); hospital-based physicians; patient care, risk management; employment and labor issues; reimbursement and insurance concerns; environmental issues; contract matters; and tax concerns.

Health Care Insurance and Securities
Health care providers are affected by state insurance laws, and may also be affected by state and federal securities laws.  Among other insurance requirements, provider's must comply with Montana's employer insurance laws. Depending on the circumstances, the offer of interests in an integrated delivery system may also be subject to state and federal securities laws. BKBH attorneys are available to assist our clients in complying with these requirements.

Health Care & Professional Liability
Professional liability issues encountered by health care providers may include liability for defects in utilization review and medical malpractice tort liability based on a theory of respondeat superior (employer liability) or apparent agency. BKBH health care attorneys have experience in reviewing and drafting employment agreements with physicians to ensure a health care provider's exposure to tort liability for the acts of its employees is limited and to ensure the agreement is appropriately characterized as an employment agreement or an independent contractor agreement as the situation dictates.

Health Care Credentialing and Peer Review
When engaging in credentialing procedures, health care facilities are subject to certain legal duties with respect to member physicians. For example, a hospital could be found liable to an injured third party for the negligent credentialing of its medical staff. Furthermore, a health care provider denied membership on a medical staff may allege lack of due process or other legal remedies if credentials are denied or terminated. Legal issues may also arise with respect to a hospital's peer review process, such as issues related to a determination of immunity from liability for physicians participating in the peer review process and the confidentiality of peer review proceedings with respect to patients seeking information about a particular physician. BKBH health care  attorneys are knowledgeable in these areas and are skilled in assisting our clients in complying with these difficult and often confusing issues.

Health Care Contracts, Tax & Business Issues
BKBH health care attorneys provide ongoing legal counsel in connection with drafting and interpreting contracts and conforming business operations to corporate and nonprofit laws, and with employment-related issues such as compliance with the rules governing the Americans with Disability Act and workers' compensation.  In conjunction with a health care provider's accounting firm, BKBH's health care attorneys can assist with federal and state tax planning issues, such as payment of estimated taxes, annual reporting requirements, timing of deductions and recognition of income, and utilization of net operating losses. BKBH also has experience representing our clients various interests before the Department of Insurance and State Auditor's office to ensure proper compliance with the provisions of the insurance code and Montana's securities laws as they relate to health care providers.

Health Care and the Legislative Process
Compliance with existing state and federal laws is essential to the successful operation of a health care facility. However, at times, applicable laws and rules prove to be unworkable, inequitable and/or unduly restrictive. Under those circumstances, the affected parties should consider whether legislative action is appropriate for them. BKBH can assist in identifying entities with similar interests and helping them to obtain legislative change.

Health Care Litigation
Litigation may arise from virtually any aspect of a Health Care Provider's operations. Careful planning can minimize exposure to litigation. In the event that litigation is unavoidable, BKBH is qualified to provide a full range of litigation services, including consultation, drafting of pleadings, discovery, trial preparation, trial management, and appellate practice. Further, BKBH is experienced in complex multiparty litigation. The scope of our substantive work involves the representation of both plaintiffs and defendants; our attorneys have experience in medical malpractice, commercial, environmental, toxic exposure, and general civil litigation areas. In addition, we have advised and represented clients in criminal investigations and litigation related to their potential exposure to civil liability.

To set up an appointment with a BKBH health care attorneys, contact either Mark Taylor in our Helena office (406-443-6820) or Dan Auerbach in our Missoula office (406-728-1694).

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