Howard J. Young
Howard Young has advised healthcare organizations and life science companies for more than 30 years and brings a solutions-oriented approach to address their complex legal and regulatory needs. Howard counsels clients and their boards of directors on mission critical matters. He advises on government investigation defense and audit response, litigation, regulatory counseling, and transactions. Howard has held senior leadership positions in the federal government and in private practice and currently co-leads the firm’s global healthcare industry team. Howard is a member of the firm’s Compensation Committee and previously served on the firm’s global Advisory Board.
Clients turn to Howard for complex compliance and strategic business issues, internal and government investigations, self-disclosures, False Claims Act (FCA) qui tam litigation, and US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) inquiries and the negotiation of and compliance with corporate integrity agreements (CIAs). Howard regularly advises strategic and private equity investors on the healthcare regulatory aspects of transactions, affiliations, and joint ventures. Howard also regularly engages with client boards of directors to provide updates on salient trends and risk management oversight.
Howard’s clients include a wide range of providers, including hospice and palliative care, home health, long-term care, specialty and retail pharmacies, hospitals and academic medical centers, behavioral health providers, physician practices, vision care providers, medical device manufacturers and suppliers, telehealth providers, healthcare vendors and digital health companies, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), health plans, and distributors.
As a former senior managing lawyer with the HHS OIG, Howard has experience advising and litigating on OIG and state exclusion matters and successfully litigated the only instance in which a federal court reversed an OIG exclusion action. He also assists clients responding to program integrity actions of the Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) contractors, such as the unified program integrity contractors (UPICs) and Supplemental Medical Review Contractor, regarding audits and billing revocation and payment suspensions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Howard advised a wide array of healthcare organizations on alternative healthcare delivery models, federal and state waivers, Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act grant issues, OIG audit readiness, and OIG response issues.
Howard frequently writes and presents on fraud and abuse and healthcare regulatory issues to major healthcare trade and professional associations, as well as to clients’ executive teams, boards of directors, and sales and marketing teams. Howard also serves on the board of directors of the Elea Institute, a foundation that leads national efforts to expand access to high-quality hospice and palliative care in support of patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers through research, educational resources, grants and other initiatives.
