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Matthew Goldman

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Matthew Goldman is a partner in the Corporate Practice Group in the firm's Century City office and is a member of the firm's healthcare practice team.

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On Thursday, April 8, 2021, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (the “Innovation Center”) announced its final list of 53 organizations set to participate in the Global and Professional Direct Contracting (“GPDC”) Model (previously named the Direct Contracting Model for Global and Professional Options).  The 53 Direct Contracting Entities (“DCEs”) are participating in the first Performance Year (“PY2021”) of the GPDC Model, which runs from April 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021. The DCEs will serve Medicare fee-for-service (“FFS”) beneficiaries in 38 states as well as in the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
Continue Reading CMS Announces Final Organizations for the Global and Professional Direct Contracting Model, Halts Additional Applications and Future Solicitations

On March 10, 2021, President Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (the “Act”). This $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package not only includes a whole host…
Continue Reading The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021: A New Lease on Life for the Affordable Care Act?

On December 28, 2020, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (“Appropriations Act”) was passed into law. The Appropriations Act included the No Surprises Act (“Act”), which seeks to protect patients from surprise medical bills in situations where patients have little or no control over who provides their care, including nonemergency services provided by out-of-network providers at in-network facilities, emergency services provided by out-of-network providers and facilities, and air ambulance services. The Act, a rare piece of bipartisan, bicameral legislation, has been a long time in the making, and has undergone multiple iterations. Particularly during the public health emergency, the issue of surprise medical bills is especially pertinent, as the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the occurrence of surprise bills in a time where people are less likely to be able to shoulder the unexpected costs.
Continue Reading No Surprises Act Comes as a Surprise – Consolidated Appropriations Act Includes New Restrictions on Surprise Bills

On December 3, 2020, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) announced key details concerning a new value-based reimbursement and patient care model – the Geographic Direct Contracting Model (the “Model” or “Geo”). Geo is a geographic-based approach to value-based Medicare reimbursement and patient care that focuses on improving health outcomes and decreasing the cost of care across an entire geographic region. Direct contracting entities (“DCEs”) participating in the Model will be taking responsibility for the total cost of care of Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries in their region.  Accountable care organizations (ACOs), health systems, health care provider groups, health plans, and other potential applicants will be permitted to participate in the Model as DCEs.  The Model intends to encourage care coordination across a physical, geographic area and to deliver care that considers a region’s particular local needs.[1]
Continue Reading CMS Announces New Geographic Direct Contracting Model: Letters of Interest Due by December 21, 2020

On November 10, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments for California v. Texas, a case that will potentially decide the fate of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”).
Continue Reading Texas v. California: SCOTUS Hears Oral Arguments About the Constitutionality of the ACA

On October 6, 2020, the US Supreme Court (the “Court”) heard arguments on an Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) case that has the potential to curtail the rights of states to regulate their individual healthcare markets, in Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (the “Case”).
Continue Reading ERISA: The Erosion of State Health Regulation Rights

The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and alongside it the high probability of a conservative successor to the open seat she left behind, is likely to shift the Court substantially to the right. Among the most notable cases that will likely be presented before the newly constituted Court is the pending challenge to the Affordable Care Act (the “ACA”).
Continue Reading The Death of RBG…and the ACA?

On May 18, 2020, California  Senate Bill 977 (“SB-977”) was passed out of the California Senate Health Committee and is now scheduled for its first hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee on June 1, 2020.   SB-977 as written would subject all acquisitions and affiliations on and after January 1, 2021 by larger health systems, private equity funds and hedge funds of (i) hospitals, (ii) other health facilities, (iii) physicians, (iv) clinics, (v) ambulatory surgery centers or  (vi) laboratories to prior approval by the California Attorney General.  In its current form, SB-977 would require the California Attorney General to withhold his approval from a proposed transaction unless the transaction would (i) increase clinical integration and/or (ii) increase access or availability of healthcare services to underserved populations, and would not otherwise be anti-competitive.  SB-977 would also give the Attorney General the discretion to hold a public hearing on a proposed transaction.  In short, with SB-977, the California Legislature is going far beyond earlier proposals or legislation in other states – including Connecticut and Washington State – that have prior approval requirements for healthcare transactions.

In this article, we consider the forces behind SB-977 – a decade or more of healthcare consolidations and the financial distress being experienced by hospitals and other healthcare providers as a result of the current healthcare emergency – and the potential impact that SB-977 could have on the California healthcare marketplace if it were signed into law in its current form.
Continue Reading Getting Ahead of California’s Post-Pandemic M&A Surge: California Senate Bill 977 Seeks to Expand Attorney General Oversight of Healthcare Acquisitions and Affiliations involving Hospitals, Health Systems, Private Equity Groups, and Hedge Funds

In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court in NFIB v. Sebelius struck down a provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the “ACA”) which, for all intents and purposes, made the expansion of the Medicaid program voluntary for individual states.  As a consequence, the Medicaid expansion provided for in the ACA has been rolled out in piecemeal fashion, with various states opting to expand Medicaid in the years since the ACA’s passage, and other so-called “holdout” states choosing to preserve their respective pre-ACA structured Medicaid programs.  These holdout states tend to be more conservative and Republican-controlled, with governors and state legislatures opposed to the ACA’s Medicaid expansion for various political and economic reasons.  The COVID-19 pandemic, however, seems to have prompted some of these “holdout” states, even considerably conservative states, to reconsider their decision not to expand Medicaid.
Continue Reading Will COVID-19 Prompt “Holdout States” to Reconsider Medicaid Expansion?

On March 17, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued a memorandum to provide information to organizations that participate in the Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (“PACE”) program in furtherance of preventing the spread of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (“COVID-19”).
Continue Reading CMS Issues COVID-19 Prevention Guidance for PACE Organizations