Effective representation of today's managed health care industry requires an array of legal skills delivered in a cost-conscious fashion, coupled with a thorough knowledge of the industry and an excellent grasp of the ever-changing regulatory environment.

Lawyers at Taggart Morton have represented participants in all facets of the health care industry -- health maintenance organizations, managed care insurers, self-insured employer sponsored benefit plans, third party plan administrators, hospitals, nursing homes, single-specialty and multi-specialty physician practices, health care consultants and management service organizations, inventors of medical devices, manufacturers of medical devices, distributors of medical devices, suppliers of durable medical equipment and medical supplies, home health care agencies, medical billing and collection companies, and provider networks. Projects for these clients have required the business, tax, antitrust, litigation, labor and employment law, technology and qualified plan expertise of firm lawyers as well as the expertise of firm lawyers necessary to daily work in the managed health care environment.

The members of Taggart Morton's Health Group participate in numerous industry professional organizations and frequently offer presentations to industry groups, yet manage to set aside time to keep abreast of new legal developments. With this diversified legal experience and substantial knowledge of the industry, Taggart Morton's Health Group is uniquely positioned to meet the legal needs of its clientele. Biographies of Taggart Morton Health Group lawyers and some examples of the Group's experience in various segments of the industry follow.

 

Managed Care Industry Practice

Accreditation	Member Services
Antitrust & Trade Regulation	Medical Claims & Provider Billing
Arbitration & Mediation	Medicare & Medicaid
ERISA, COBRA & HIPAA	Medicare+Choice
False Claims Act	OIG Compliance
Fraud & Abuse	Provider Contracting & Credentialing
Health Care Collections	Subrogation & Third Party Recovery
Litigation - all state and federal courts	Utilization Review / Medical Necessity
Mergers and Acquisitions	Medicaid Managed Care
Form A, B, C and D Filing	IPA Formation
Corporate Governance

 

Personnel:

Perry R. Staub, Jr. | A.J. Herbert, III
Larry E. Demmons | Jennifer R. Warden
Leslie Rozycki

PERRY R. STAUB, JR.

Perry Staub chairs both the Litigation and Health Care Practice Groups at Taggart Morton. Mr. Staub has been involved in the representation of health care entities, including managed care entities, for over twenty years. Perry specializes in health and managed care litigation, including: ERISA, provider contracting, employment and labor law, antitrust & trade regulation, False Claims Act, intellectual property, technology, subrogation and third party reimbursement actions, Medicare, and all manner of business and complex litigation disputes. In addition to his practice in various state and federal courts nationwide, Perry has been involved in cases and regulatory proceedings before the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Labor, the Health Care Financing Administration (now CMS), the Louisiana Department of Insurance and the Louisiana Department of Labor. Perry lectures extensively on issues of interest in the health care industry, as well as on the developing use of technology in both legal and business contexts.

Mr. Staub's interest in technology has led to his involvement in the n egotiation and preparation of medical technology licensing agreements; acquisitions and divestitures of medical technology; joint venture and "partnering" arrangements between developers of medical technology and manufacturers and distributors; encryption issues; counseling on online provision of medical services and on application of HIPAA's Medical Privacy and Transaction Standards.

Mr. Staub presently serves on the Board of Directors of the New Orleans Bar Association, where he also chairs the Technology Committee. He is a member of the American Health Lawyers Association, the Managed Care Interest Group of the AHLA; the Technology Practice Group of the AHLA; the American Bar Association (Sections on Health Law, Antitrust & Trade Regulation, Litigation, Science & Technology, Employment & Labor (ERISA), and Tort & Insurance Practice); the Health Care Compliance Association; the Louisiana State Bar Association's Health Law Section.

Perry Staub's profile

A.J. HERBERT, III

A.J. Herbert III chairs the Insurance Regulatory Services, Managed Health Care Industry Services – Transactional and Regulatory, and Corporate Law practice groups at Taggart Morton, L.L.C. Mr. Herbert has been involved in the representation of insurers, financial institutions, and health care industry stakeholders for over 20 years, in both Louisiana and Texas. He is experienced in a wide variety of the issues affecting these industries, including formations; dissolutions; mergers and acquisitions; the regulatory approval processes for all facets of company licensing; Form A-D filings; agent, producer and broker licensing issues; examination issues; corporate law and governance issues; compliance; fraud and abuse; MNRO and TPA licensing; holding company regulation; and “best practices” compliance. He is knowledgeable of regulatory issues affecting these industries on both the federal and state level, including Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, and Medicaid managed care, as well as self-insurance issues. He has drafted numerous contracts for use in the banking, insurance, and healthcare fields, including provider agreements, management services agreements, and ancillary services agreements. He has published several articles on financial institution law, and given numerous lectures relating to insurance regulation, including to the Conference of Certified Fraud Examiners, on his experiences relating to insurance fraud matters while serving as outside counsel to the Louisiana Department of Insurance.

Mr. Herbert currently serves as the Vice-Chairman of the Health Law Section of the New Orleans Bar Association. He is also an active member of the American Health Lawyers Association, the Louisiana Association of Health Plans, and the Health Law Section of the Louisiana Bar Association. He previously served as a member of the Board of Directors and as the Secretary-Treasurer of the Louisiana Leukemia Society. In 2009, Mr. Herbert was named as one of the Top 50 lawyers in New Orleans by New Orleans CityBusiness.

A.J. Herbert, III's profile

LARRY E. DEMMONS

Larry E. Demmons is a shareholder with the law firm of Taggart Morton and a member of its Managed Health Care Practice and Commercial Litigation Groups. Mr. Demmons also chairs the firm's Labor and Employment Practice Group. In the managed care arena, he represents both health care providers and health plans on litigation-related issues. His practice areas include ERISA benefits litigation, subrogation and other reimbursement claims brought by health plans, labor and employment issues, and contract-related litigation brought by healthcare and other managed care service providers.

Mr. Demmons is a member of the Order of the Barristers and the American, Louisiana and New Orleans Bar Associations. He is further licensed to practice in Louisiana state courts, before the United States Courts of Appeals for the Fifth, Seventh and Federal Circuits, and the United States District Courts for the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Louisiana , the Northern District of Illinois and the Middle District of Florida.

Larry Demmons' profile

JENNIFER R. WARDEN

Jennifer R. Warden focuses her practice on advising clients on a range of business and healthcare related transactional and litigation matters, including counseling healthcare providers, managed care organizations and facility owners in all facets of business and healthcare law. In her practice, Ms. Warden regularly counsels clients on compliance and healthcare business issues, including negotiating healthcare and provider contracts and structuring business transactions. She has experience in assisting healthcare providers and organizations with practice management issues, reimbursement matters and conducting day-today business operation to ensure compliance with the Stark law, the Anti-Kickback Statute, Medicare and Medicaid participation and requirements, and professional licensing rules. Ms. Warden has successfully represented clients in numerous Medicare and Medicaid matters, including victories in recovery audit appeals.

In her practice, Ms. Warden has represented and assisted with business planning for corporations, limited liability companies, limited liability partnerships, limited partnerships, general partnerships and entrepreneurs, including healthcare providers and practitioners, in transactions including acquisitions and sales of businesses, mergers, joint ventures, trade regulation, non-competition agreements, non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements, shareholder disputes, non-profit and tax-exempt organizations, and general contract and business matters.

Ms. Warden is presently the Secretary/Treasurer of the Health Law Section of the Federal Bar Association and Co-Chair of a Health Law Section Committee of the New Orleans Bar Association. She is also a member of the Louisiana and Mississippi Bar Associations, American Bar Association and American Health Lawyers Association.

Ms. Warden received her Juris Doctor with certificates in common law and civil law from Loyola University in New Orleans. Prior to attending law school, Ms. Warden received a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Finance and Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Music degrees from Loyola University in New Orleans, LA.

Ms. Warden is admitted to practice before all state and federal courts in Louisiana and Mississippi. Ms. Warden lectures and writes frequently on managed care federal regulatory changes in healthcare and issues of interest to physicians and other healthcare providers.

Jennifer Warden's profile

LESLIE ROZYCKI

Leslie Rozycki brought to Taggart Morton twenty-five plus years of healthcare experience at the management/administrative level. Before embarking on a legal career at Taggart Morton, Leslie Rozycki served as Senior Network Manager for Aetna U.S. Healthcare from 1997 to 2001. In this capacity, Leslie managed Aetna's provider relation network management staff for Louisiana and Arkansas . Her responsibilities included network strategy and implementation, financial analysis of existing and new contracts against targeted medical per member/per month cost, review of plan financial performance, management of medical loss ratios and oversight of provider contracts. Ms. Rozycki was responsible for facilitating and monitoring all network contract negotiations, including fee for service, shared risk, capitation, case rates, per diem and DRGs. Her contracting responsibilities extended to language negotiations that n ecessitated a thorough understanding of applicable federal and state laws. Ms. Rozycki also ascertained compliance with NCQA accreditation requirements and had direct interaction with the accreditation team during reviews. She further provided support for the UR/QM and credentialing processes. Her job responsibilities also included management of dispute resolution with both providers and members, including arbitration, collaborating with internal counsel as necessary. In addition, Ms. Rozycki participated in committees with the Louisiana Department of Insurance in an attempt to develop a common physician credentialing process for all health plans.

Prior to accepting her position at Aetna, Ms. Rozycki acted as Manager of the Healthcare Services Division of the New Orleans accounting firm Laporte, Serte, Romig & Hand. Her responsibilities there included: working with healthcare clients to ensure that billing practices met federal requirements; conducting accounts receivable billing/collections seminars; developing programs to streamline processes for TPA's and to optimize reimbursement; chargemaster maintenance and client direction. Ms. Rozycki proved uniquely suited to these tasks by virtue of her previous ten years of service as a head nurse and administrative supervisor at various health care providers.

Ms. Rozycki received a Masters of Science in Health Services Administration from Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant , Michigan in 1988. She earned her BSN from Michigan State University in 1983 and completed the coursework for her MSN at Louisiana State University . She is a past President of the American Heart Association Board and has current memberships in the Greater New Orleans Medical Group Management, the Healthcare Financial Management Association and the National League for Nursing Advanced Certified Nurse Administrator. 

REPRESENTATIVE CLIENTS

Health Maintenance Organizations and Other Benefit Plans:  Amcare Health Plans of Louisiana, Inc.; CIGNA Healthcare; Community Care Network, Inc. (CCN, Inc.); Coventry Health Plan; First Health Group  Corp.; Humana Health Plan of Louisiana, Inc.; Ochsner Health Plan; Ochsner/Sisters of Charity Health Plan, Inc.

Managed Care and Health Care Related Insurers:  CNA HealthPro; Columbia Casualty; Continental; St. Paul Fire and Marine 

Self Insured Plans:  Reily Companies Group Medical and Dental Plan-Group Medical Benefits for Employees; Entergy Health and Welfare Benefits Plan

Third Party Administrators:  ACMG, Inc.; Attenta; Benefit Recovery, Inc.; Dynamic Subrogation Solutions, L.L.C.; Southern Risk Services, Inc.; Trover Solutions, formerly Healthcare Recoveries, Inc.

Medical Device Manufacturers:  St. Jude Medical

Health Care Collection Agencies:  Crescent City Recovery, Inc.; Southern Credit Recovery, Inc.;

Compliance Vendors - HIPAA Standard Transactions:  Dynamic Technical, L.L.C.

Providers:  Alton Ochsner Medical Foundation; American Home Health Kare Providers, L.L.C.; American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons; Back To Health Chiropractic Clinic; Home Health Professionals, Inc.; Louisiana Cancer Consortium; Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency; Louisiana Pediatric Network; Ochsner Clinic; Ochsner Clinic Foundation; Ochsner Clinic Health Services;  Corporation; Ochsner Home Health Services, Inc.; Ochsner Home Medicare Corporation; Ochsner Medical Institutions; Ochsner Organ Bank; Ochsner Service Corporation; RediCare Home Health Association; RediCare Services, Inc. d/b/a Kiddie Care Zone; South Louisiana Medical Associates; Thibodaux Regional Medical Center; Total Sleep Diagnostics, Inc.; Tulane Medical Center; Urology Clinic of Southwest Louisiana; Numerous Individual Physicians

top of page