Dennis S. Diaz

Dennis Diaz is a health care regulatory and transactional lawyer. For over 25 years, he has represented a wide range of health care providers, including multi-hospital systems, community hospitals, physician-hospital organizations, and medical groups, in California and nationally. Dennis focuses his practice on hospital-physician relations, regulatory and compliance, provider operations, fraud and abuse, and billing and payment, matters, and regularly advises and defends providers against government enforcement actions and in internal investigations involving health care regulatory issues. He has served as lead counsel in structuring physician-hospital organizations, including medical foundations and other joint ventures. Dennis also acts as outside general counsel to hospitals and medical groups.  

Practice Highlights

• Defending actions brought by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the Office of Inspector General (OIG), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), and local governmental authorities
• Internal health care regulatory and compliance matters, including audits and investigations, corrective actions, refunds, and disclosure to the government
• Structuring and negotiating hospital-physician contracts and joint ventures, including strategies for hospital-physician alignment and integration
• Federal and state physician self-referral (Stark and PORA), anti-kickback, and fraud and abuse issues in connection with physician contracts and provider operations
• Billing and reimbursement disputes with governmental and commercial payors, including the Medicare and Medicaid programs
• Conducting due diligence of health care regulatory and compliance affairs on behalf of buyers, investors, lenders and sellers in acquisitions and financing transactions
• General counsel to community hospitals and medical groups