NNews March 2024

20 March 2024 Riker Danzig Offers Valuable Guidance Regarding Ever-Changing Laws and Regulations As providers contendwith frequent changes to laws and regulations while striving to serve the increasing number of individuals in need, it helps to have experienced legal counsel. Such knowledgeable resources provide analyses, perspectives on the impact of regulations and statutes, and guidelines to ensure compliance, as well as insights to informadvocacy efforts. These are exactly the roles of Riker Danzig, LLP, a newmember of NJAMHAA’s Integrated Healthcare Council. Healthcare Division Helps Providers Adhere to Rules “We help keep providers up-to-date with state and federal laws and regulations, which change all the time, especially because of COVID. Our guidance helps providers serve peoplemost effectively. We help them focusmore on care, not legal jargon,” said Jessica Osterlof, Esq., Associate in Riker Danzig’s Healthcare Group. “We offer litigation, regulatory compliance and transaction work. All of this covers 90% of what every healthcare provider needs,” added Khaled Klele, Esq., Partner, Healthcare & Commercial Litigation Group. Osterlof joined the firm in March 2023 soon after graduating from Seton Hall University with a concentration in healthcare law. She works closely with Klele, who initially worked at the firm as a summer associate in 1999 and joined the firm as an attorney in 2000 after graduating from the University of Virginia School of Law. In fact, Klele began as a general litigator when health care was not segmented from other areas of law. This changed after 2005, when national healthcare reform efforts were launched. When the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010 and healthcare practice became even more highly regulated, Klele started focusing on this particular type of law. “I enjoy the regulatory compliance part of the business. Most of my clients are practitioners andmid-level facilities,” he said. “All healthcare providers need to know their way around regulations,” Klele stressed. He shares his extensive knowledge on state and federal regulations and helps providers work through discrepancies. Klele’s career started out representing providers in various medical specialties and then evolved to include work in behavioral health care, beginningmore than seven years ago. “In behavioral health care, there are many moving parts in regulations and statutes, andwe help providers navigate these,” he said. Government Affairs Division Offers Insights to Bolster Advocacy While Klele and Osterlof’s work focuses on federal and state laws and regulations exclusively for the healthcare industry, Mary Kay Roberts, Partner, concentrates solely on state legislative and regulatory issues for not only healthcare clients, but also the transportation, education and technology industries. However, over time, health care became a larger part of her portfolio. “ I love to hear from providers and brainstorm on issues impacting patients and all of the stakeholders. ” Mary Kay Roberts Partner Jessica Osterlof, Esq. Khaled Klele, Esq. (continued on page 21)