Doug Hastings, Chair Emeritus of the Firm, based in the firm’s Washington, DC, office, was featured in Bloomberg BNA Health Law Reporter, in “Health-Law Specialty Still Evolving, Attorneys Say,” by Mary Ann Pazanowski.
Following is an excerpt:
The scope and depth of the regulatory issues facing health-care providers after the adoption of the 1970s-era laws gave rise to a need for more sophisticated legal counsel, Hastings said. Additionally, he said, there has been a “surge of social issues” surrounding health care, as the industry itself has exploded, and an understanding has developed that health care is both “a commodity and social good.”
Today, being a health-law generalist is challenging. The practice has become one that an attorney “can't even begin to get his or her arms around” without developing some sort of specialty, Hastings said. The “knowledge curve is steeper” than it was and, generally, attorneys break down into three major groups: those who represent providers in transactions work, those who advise providers on regulatory issues and those who litigate on behalf of providers.
