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Robert M. Wolin

A member of the firm’s Healthcare Team, Robert Wolin maintains an active healthcare and business practice with an emphasis on counseling clients in the healthcare industry. Mr. Wolin is board certified in Health Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and has been named to the prestigious Chambers USA Guide: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business as a leader in the healthcare practice area. Mr. Wolin’s clients include dialysis providers, long term care providers, assisted living facilities, home health agencies, corporate health and medical departments, ancillary service providers, IDTFs, physicians, joint ventures, hospitals, pharmaceutical distributors, pharmacies, medical device distributors and manufacturers and healthcare-related aviation service providers.

Mr. Wolin has advised clients regarding a variety of business and regulatory issues, ranging from corporate structuring to compliance with the complex regulatory scheme facing clients in the healthcare industry. He has served as lead counsel in many complex and substantial business transactions in several states, including the $215 million acquisition of First American Home Health, which involved negotiating one of the largest OIG fraud and abuse settlements in history on behalf of First American Home Health Care of Georgia, Inc., and its owner, Integrated Health Services, Inc. He has also negotiated several other OIG and Department of Justice healthcare compliance agreements.

Mr. Wolin has acted as lead counsel in many healthcare institution acquisition and disposition transactions, including hospitals, nursing homes and HMOs, and has provided regulatory, fraud and abuse advice to numerous healthcare providers. He has also represented national distributors of healthcare products in connection with product distribution, group purchasing organization agreements, manufacturer representation agreements and business purchase agreements.

In addition, Mr. Wolin has advised clients regarding the organization and structure of healthcare entities and joint ventures, including surgery centers, imaging centers and renal dialysis facilities. He has also served as general counsel for a national laboratory supply company on an interim basis.

A commercially rated pilot with many hours of aerial search and rescue experience, Mr. Wolin brings unique experience to healthcare-related aviation matters and has assisted clients in the acquisition and disposition of aircraft, obtaining heliport approvals and dealing with FAA regulatory matters.

Mr. Wolin has been involved in extensive projects relating to consumer credit compliance issues for both healthcare clients and lenders under federal and state consumer protection laws, including the defense of several consumer credit class action cases.

Mr. Wolin has written and spoken extensively on issues affecting clients in the healthcare industry. He currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the John P. McGovern Museum of Health and Medical Science and served as a member of the Contemporary Long Term Care Magazine Editorial Board from 1988 to 1990. Some of his more recent speaking engagements and publications include:

• Quoted: “Economy, Regulations Having Impact on Today’s Health Care Industry,” Houston Business Journal - Health Care Magazine (February 26, 2010)
• Webinar: “Legal Implications Associated with Corporate Medical Department Responses to Pandemics, including H1N1,” presented to the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (November 2009)
• Speech: “Pandemics and Corporate Health Departments,” Active Communications International Corporate On-Site Medical Clinics Conference (November 2009)
• Author: “Target Health Care Fraud,” New York Law Journal, co-author with John Carney (July 2009)
• Quoted: “Going Unbranded Could Provide Added Benefits for Physicians,” Physician’s Money Digest (July 9, 2009)
• Author: “Privacy Law Changes Require Provider Action,” Nursing Home Litigation Reporter (June 19, 2009)
• Quoted: “No ‘Safe’ Way to Gossip About Patient Info,” Healthcare Risk Management (May 11, 2009)
• Quoted: “Air Ambulance Debate Heats Up,” Modern Healthcare (April 27, 2009)
• Quoted: “Details Matter with ‘Apparent Authority’,” Healthcare Risk Management Journal (April 14, 2009)
• Quoted: “Unsustainable: Region’s Medical Facilities Still Struggling to Take On Extra Load Generated by Hurricane Damage to UTMB,” Houston Business Journal (April 3, 2009)
• Quoted: “HIPAA Replacement Closes Compliance Loophole,” Houston Business Journal (March 20, 2009)
• Author: “Air Ambulances: How Hospitals Can Minimize Liability Risk,” BNA Health Law Reporter (November 13, 2008)
• Quoted: “Financial Meltdown Doesn’t Derail Houston Hospital Expansions,” Houston Business Journal (October 24, 2008)
• Quoted: “St. Joseph Sales Effort Slowed by Continued Financial Jitters,” Houston Business Journal (October 17, 2008)
• Speech: “The Changing Tide of Physician Employment: How to Maximize the Potential for Success,” Outpatient 100 Executive Management Conference (September 2008)
• Author: “Tax-Exempt Hospitals Under the Microscope: Charity Care,” Compliance Today, co-authored with Susan Feigin Harris and Edward Beckwith (September 2008)
• Author: “The Feds Pick Up a New Cudgel,” National Law Journal, co-authored with Scott McBride (August 11, 2008)
• Presentation: “Hospital Employment of Physicians,” Ohio Hospital Association (May 2008)

Mr. Wolin is a member of the Texas and American Bar Associations and the American Health Lawyers Association.