Stephen is a seasoned and versatile New York health care lawyer with 30-plus years experience. He advises complex, nonprofit health systems, government-funded managed care organizations, and community-based human services agencies, as well as some of America's leading health sector businesses. Stephen combines deep policy experience with a nuanced grasp of the technical regulatory landscape. Clients call him “brilliant” and “thorough,” as reported to Chambers USA, where he is consistently recognized as a “Star Individual” in health care.
Stephen advises clients on Medicare, Medicaid and other government funding programs; state and federal fraud and abuse authorities; internal investigations and corporate compliance obligations; hospital-physician arrangements; and health plan regulatory and transactional matters. Over the past 15 years, he has defended a number of high-profile civil false claims investigations brought in the Southern, Eastern and Northern Districts of New York, alleging such matters as improper billing, “Stark” and Anti-Kickback violations, and noncompliance with managed care enrollment, risk adjustment and marketing requirements. Stephen also counsels clients on New York’s unique regulatory, reimbursement and enforcement landscape, relying on his extensive experience before the New York State Department of Health, the New York Attorney General, and other New York regulators.
Stephen is committed to giving back to the community through pro bono service. He guided many clients on the front lines of New York’s COVID response, for which New York Law Journal named him one of three finalists for “Attorney of the Year” in 2020 and Ropes & Gray honored him with its Outstanding Pro Bono Partner Service Award in 2021. For a decade, he served as the founding chair of FAIR Health, a national nonprofit dedicated to the mission of fostering greater transparency to health care costs and health insurance information. Stephen is the principal author of “Health Care Fraud and Abuse” in White Collar Crime: Business and Regulatory Offenses (Law Journal Press, 2008), a treatise for practitioners co-edited by Otto Obermaier and Robert Morvillo.