The Berger Report: A Step Toward Improving New York’s Health Care System
by Tom Halloran
Huron Consulting Group; New York
The Berger Commission report will change New York’s health care system and create an environment ripe with opportunities for restructuring professionals to assist boards and management teams in the following areas:
- Strategy: Evaluate M&A and combination opportunities
- Financial: Refinancing hospital indebtedness
- Operational: Reconfiguring hospital operations and reducing costs
- Legal: Litigate the breadth of the automatic-stay provisions and the question of the propriety of the “delegation of powers” to the Berger Commission.
Agenda for the 2007 Annual Spring Meeting
The Health Care Insolvency Committee will hold a panel discussion at the 25th Annual Spring Meeting entitled “Patient Care Ombudsman: The Myth and the Reality.” The program is scheduled from 4:00-5:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 14, 2007, at the JW Marriott, in Washington, D.C.
The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA) created unique rules for the bankruptcy of a health care business. The most controversial and most-used provision is §333 of the Bankruptcy Code, which requires the appointment of a patient care ombudsman in the bankruptcy of a health care business. Much has been written and said about what is expected of the ombudsmen that will serve in these roles and exactly what powers, rights and responsibilities they have. However, despite all the discussion, the reality of the role and reports issued by the patient care ombudsman to date has been controversial. This panel is composed of:
Bobby Guy (Moderator, Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, Nashville, Tenn.) has represented major parties in health care bankruptcies such as PhyAmerica Physician Services, Sun Health Care, Newcare Health Corp. and Response Oncology. He has also written and lectured on the roles of patient care ombudsmen.
Keith Shapiro (Greenberg Traurig LLP, Chicago) is a bankruptcy attorney who formerly served as the first chair of ABI's Health Care Insolvency Committee. In the mid-1990s, he and his partner, Nancy Peterman, were the authors, along with the staff of Senator Grassley, of what eventually became §333. His insight into the real purpose and expectations of the patient care ombudsman are better than any in legislative history.
Roberta DeAngelis is the acting general counsel for the Executive Office of the U.S. Trustee in Washington, D.C., where she serves as the national coordinator for the regional and local U.S. Trustee’s offices on the selection of patient care ombudsmen throughout the nation. She is intimately involved in the selection of such ombudsmen, and will discuss the criteria applied by the U.S. Trustees in selecting and supervising such ombudsmen.
William Isele is the New Jersey Long Term Care Ombudsman in Trenton, N.J., and is currently serving as the patient care ombudsman in the bankruptcy of Passaic Beth Israel Hospital in New Jersey. He will discuss the training and role of state long-term care ombudsmen and his work in Passaic Beth Israel.
Brent Martin of XRoads Solutions, Santa Ana, Calif., served as the medical advisor to the patient care ombudsman in the bankruptcy of Upland Surgical Institute in Santa Ana, Calif. He will offer insight on the expectations and the reality of serving as a patient care ombudsman.
New Editor for ABI Health Care Committee Newsletter
David N. Crapo is the new editor of the ABI Health Care Committee e-Newsletter. Mr. Crapo is counsel to Gibbons, Del Deo, Dolan, Griffinger & Vecchione P.C., in Newark, N.J. (to become Gibbons P.C., effective Feb. 13, 2007), where he works in the Financial Restructuring and Creditors’ Rights Practice Group. Mr. Crapo has 22 years of experience in the bankruptcy practice, including four years as a trial attorney with the tax division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where he represented the Internal Revenue Service in many bankruptcy-related tax matters. In the health care arena, Mr. Crapo’s primary interest is in the financial effect of involvement by federal, state and local governments in regulating and/or funding health care providers. His contact information is below:
David N. Crapo, Esq.
Gibbons, Del Deo, Dolan, Griffinger & Vecchione P.C.
One Riverfront Plaza
Newark, N.J. 07102-5496
(973) 596-4523 (telephone); (973) 639-6244 (fax)
dcrapo@gibbonslaw.com
The 2007 deadlines for submission of e-newsletter content is:
April 4, 2007 for publication between April 11 and 27
July 18, 2007 for publication between July 27 and Aug. 15
Oct. 10, 2007 for publication between Oct. 19 and Nov. 2
If you have any questions or need more information, please do not hesitate to contact David.
New Listserve Moderator for ABI's Health Care Committee
Starting immediately, Suzanne Koenig will be the moderator of the Health Care Committee listserve.
Ms. Koenig is president and founder of SAK Management Services LLC in Chicago, where she has more than 20 years of experience as an owner and operator. She offers specialized skills in operations improvement, staff development and quality assurance, with particular expertise in marketing and census development for the whole spectrum of senior housing and long-term care. Ms. Koenig’s professional experience has included executive positions in marketing, development and operations management for both regional and national health care providers representing property portfolios throughout the United States. In addition, she has served in an advisory and consulting capacity for numerous client engagements involving bankruptcy proceedings and turnaround management situations. As a direct owner and operator, Ms. Koenig offers the practical perspective of the challenges and opportunities confronting long-term care providers in managing the changing dynamics of this industry. She is a licensed nursing home administrator and a licensed social worker in multiple states. She also serves as an officer and director for several of the states' long-term care provider associations.
ABI listserves are used in two ways: to send out the committee newsletters to the members and as a discussion forum for topics related to the committee. The listserve moderator sends an e-mail out to the listserve at least once a month, but more often if the committee members are interested in discussing issues and using the listserve. The e-mail topic can be as broad as you would like, ranging from a detailed health care-related question to just telling them something you came across on the Internet that you thought they might find interesting. This committee has 438 members, and each e-mail will go to nearly that number of people. We see this as a great networking opportunity, as members can make connections with one another without the cost of traveling to conferences.
ABI Annual Spring Meeting Plenary Session on Health Care Issues
There will be an ABI plenary session entitled “Health Care Business Restructurings and Liquidations after BAPCPA: Issues and Strategies for the ‘New’ Cases,” at the 25th Annual Spring Meeting. It is also on Saturday, April 14, 2007, at 2:15 pm, right before the committee program.
Moderated by Sarah Foster (Haynes and Boone, Austin, Texas), the panel includes Suzanne Koenig, Hal Morris (Office of the Attorney General, Austin, Texas), Nancy Peterman (Greenberg Traurig, LLP, Chicago) and Bernie Katz (JH Cohn LLP, Edison, N.J.).
Minutes from the 2006 Winter Leadership Conference
On Friday Dec. 1, 2006, the Health Care Committee hosted a program at the ABI Leadership Conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., entitled: “Valuation of a Health Care Business in a Sale Through Bankruptcy under §363: What Exactly Is That Health Care Business Worth and Why?” The distinguished panel consisted of Tim Hughes (Cain Brothers, New York), Bob Dickinson (BDC Advisors LLC, San Francisco), Joe Solari (Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin, Chicago), and Maryann Wolf (The Ricardo Group Inc., Las Vegas). Sam Maizel (Pachulski Stang Ziehl Young Jones & Weintraub LLP, Los Angeles) served as moderator.
Joe Solari presented a quick overview of various methods that professionals use to value entities generally. Each panelist then discussed valuation issues for a specific segment of the health care industry: technology and visiting nurse/home healthcare entities; hospitals; skilled nursing facilities and other long-term care facilities; and medical groups and other physician provider organizations. Finally, each of the panelists responded to a question of whether bankruptcy caused a diminution of value for health care entities, and if so, how one counters that effect.