Lani Dornfeld's areas of practice include health law, hospital law and corporate practice. She provides legal counsel to the firm's hospital, home health agency, nursing home, assisted living facility and other institutional clients, as well as to physicians, dentists and group medical and dental practices.

Lani's experience in counseling the firm's health care clients includes the following types of transactional, regulatory and litigation matters:

Health Care Corporate and Transactional Matters

• Formation and development of corporate health care entities, including the drafting of relevant organizational, governance and transactional documents.
• Legal guidance on corporate matters, including bylaws, governance and shareholder/member issues.
• Negotiation and preparation of legal documents for acquisition and sale of medical and dental practices and other health care entities, joint venture arrangements and other transactional matters.
• Negotiation and preparation of professional employment agreements, shareholder agreements and operating agreements.
• Negotiation and preparation of administrative and management services agreements.
• Negotiation and preparation of an array of agreements and transactions between health care providers and vendors, other providers, and other individuals and entities.

Health Care Regulatory Matters

• Counsel to both institutional and individual health care providers on regulatory matters such as fraud and abuse, including Stark and Anti-Kickback compliance, physician recruitment, joint ventures and other similar arrangements; 501(c)(3) tax-exemption issues; HIPAA compliance; corporate compliance; licensure issues; Medicare issues; patient care, bioethics and discharge issues; privacy, confidentiality and medical records issues; informed consent issues; and general regulatory compliance advice and guidance.
• Legal guidance related to corporate compliance, including implementation of corporate integrity agreements and compliance programs.
• HIPAA policies and procedures, training and investigations.

Guardianship and Related Matters

• Filed and supervised hundreds of special medical and plenary guardianships, both on behalf of the firm's institutional health care clients and on behalf of individuals seeking guardianship over their loved ones.
• Experience in this area of law also extends to patient care, bioethics and discharge planning issues.

PUBLICATIONS AND SPEECHES

• "Your Obligations in a HITECH World: The HIPAA Revisions Subject Your Facility to Greater Scrutiny and Penalties," Outpatient Surgery Magazine (co-author), March 2010
• "Getting Ready for a 'HITECH' World: New HIPAA Requirements," BNA's Health Law Reporter (co-author), February 2010
• "Physician Recruitment: Are Forgivable Loans Really Free Money?," MD News, December 2009
• CMS Proposes Changes to Prospective Payment System for Long-Term Care Hospitals for Rate Year 2008 and for Graduate Medical Education," American Health Lawyers Association, Health Lawyers Weekly, March 2007
• "It Pays to Practice: A Look at Pay for Performance," New Jersey Lawyer Magazine (co-author), February 2007
• "No Tolerance for Fraudulent Billing," New Jersey Law Journal, July 2006
• "Advanced Cardiac Life Support Certification: Creating a National Standard of Care?," Cosmetic Dermatology, April 2002
• "Termination of the Physician-Patient Relationship," Cosmetic Dermatology, April 2001
• "Telemedicine: Informed Consent and Patient Privacy in Cyberspace," Cosmetic Dermatology, April 2000
• "The Practice of Telemedicine: How the States are Regulating It," Cosmetic Dermatology (co-author), January 2000

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

 

Lani is an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University School of Law, having taught courses in both the Legal Research & Writing Program and the Health Law & Policy Program. She also lectures regularly to local, state and national audiences on health law legal issues, including guardianship law, medical records law, HIPAA compliance and privacy law, advance directives, medical practice issues and discharge planning issues.

Lani has been peer review rated as AV Preeminent, the highest rating for professional excellence by Martindale-Hubbell.