Michael French

Health care counsel with a focus on 340B program and pharmacy-related issues

Michael French works with a variety of health care clients, including pharmacies, drug wholesalers, pharmacy benefit managers (PBM), hospitals, FQHCs, RHCs, post-acute care facilities, clinical laboratories and complex health care systems. He advises his clients on regulatory, legal and operational issues relating to:

• 340B program compliance and optimization
• Pharmacy regulatory compliance
• Hospital provider-based department conversions
• Medicare and Medicaid billing and reimbursement
• Telehealth
• Health care transactions

Although Michael’s practice is wide ranging, he maintains a particular focus on 340B drug pricing program issues. Michael has conducted client-facing on-site 340B and pharmacy operational assessments, assisted clients in preparing for Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) 340B audits, provided on-site support during audits and assisted with drafting Notice of Disagreements to mitigate and overturn associated government findings.

Leveraging his previous consulting experience, Michael provides usable, practical guidance that accounts for both legal and business considerations. He takes the time to learn the ins and outs of his clients’ operational models and crafts his advice to compliantly further his clients’ goals.

• Assesses 340B program policies and operations, advising on strategies that comply with applicable laws, regulations and guidance.
• Develops optimization strategies for 340B participating providers and pharmacies to compliantly maximize available 340B program benefit.
• Assists clients in obtaining pharmacy licensure and meeting operational requirements for licensure and various payer network participation.
• Guides hospital clients through provider-based clinic conversions, including analysis of reimbursement impact.
• Performs legal analysis on fraud and abuse issues, such as the Anti-Kickback Statute, the Stark Law and the False Claims Act.

• Assisted hospital client in writing Notice of Disagreement that overturned 340B program HRSA audit finding that would have resulted in $10+-million-dollar repayment.
• Managed successful large-scale conversion of 50-plus freestanding clinics to provider-based departments of client hospitals, including development of provider-based attestations for submission to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
• Assisted pharmacy client through each step of establishing new pharmacy location, including licensure procurement, space build-out considerations, payer contracting and compliance with other applicable state board of pharmacy filings and requirements.