Elizabeth Key counsels healthcare clients on all aspects of managed care, with a focus on high-stakes litigation and arbitration matters. She has successfully resolved multimillion-dollar actions against health plans involving complex billing, coding, and reimbursement issues. She is experienced in challenging a wide range of payor cost containment strategies and unilateral contract amendments, including line-item disallowances, downcoding, medical necessity denials, alleged placement delays, and improper level of care decisions.
Elizabeth leverages her industry understanding to craft pragmatic solutions that both maximize her clients' recoveries as well as repair and restore adversarial payor-provider relationships on a favorable go-forward basis.
Elizabeth also provides comprehensive legal advice on the dynamic regulatory, operational, and compliance landscape that impacts providers' day-to-day operations. She is knowledgeable on the wide array of health law issues affecting these entities, such as the Knox Keene Act, ERISA, ACA, HIPAA, the Medicare Advantage Program, and state insurance laws.
Highlights of her robust pro bono practice include arguing an appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on behalf of a Medicare physician who was wrongfully deprived of incentive payments, and securing federal injunctive relief to prevent the conversion of community correctional facilities into private immigration detention centers.
Breach of contract
Represented a large hospital system in binding arbitration with a large health plan involving reimbursement for hospital, professional, and ancillary services.
Medical necessity denials
Represented a hospital system in binding arbitration with a health plan involving denials of inpatient care on basis of alleged lack of medical necessity, including alleged placement delays and delays in service.
E&M downcoding*
Represented a hospital system in binding arbitration with a health plan regarding reimbursement for Evaluation and Management (E&M) services.
Two-midnight denials*
Represented a hospital system in binding arbitration with a health plan regarding reimbursement for inpatient care provided to Medicare Advantage enrollees.
Facility fee denials*
Represented a hospital system in binding arbitration with a health plan regarding reimbursement for facility fees when billed by a professional provider in an office setting.
Admitted to Practice
- California, 2018
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit
- U.S. District Court, Central District of California
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
Education
- J.D., University of California, Davis School of Law, 2018
- Senior Notes and Comments Editor, UC Davis Law Review
- Research Assistant, Lisa Pruitt, Spatial Inequality in Abortion Law
- 2016 Women Lawyers of Sacramento Scholarship
- Witkin Award, Negotiations
- President, Law Students for Reproductive Justice
- Scholar and Member, Schwarts-Levi Inn of Court
- B.A., Philosophy, University of Oregon, 2014
- Minor: Writing, Critical Reasoning, Public Speaking
Background
- Associate, King & Spalding LLP, Sacramento, Calif., 2022-2025
- Associate, Nossaman LLP, Sacramento, Calif., 2020-2022
- Associate, Boutin Jones Inc., Sacramento, Calif., 2018-2020
- Judicial Extern, Hon. Troy L. Nunley, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, Sacramento, Calif.