With a background as general counsel of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Rebecca helps healthcare providers navigate a complex regulatory system to deliver high-quality patient care.
A member of the firm’s Massachusetts-based Healthcare team, Rebecca offers strategic regulatory advice and develops full regulatory strategies for a wide range of healthcare clients, including academic medical centers, community hospitals, psychiatric hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, nursing facilities and long-term care facilities, rest homes, assisted living residences, imaging providers, ambulance services, and hospice and home health agencies. She also helps providers navigate regulations and obtain approvals from various agencies, and she provides assistance with Determination of Need applications and licensure matters. In addition, she regularly represents clients before state and federal agencies, including the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH), the Health Policy Commission, MassHealth, the Department of Mental Health, the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, the Office of the Attorney General, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Rebecca’s goal is to help healthcare clients develop plans and projects that work within the regulatory boundaries while allowing them to grow their systems and services. She’s deeply familiar with the regulatory world—thanks to her own years in government, she knows exactly what regulators are seeking from providers, and she instinctively understands how to help clients resolve matters quickly so that they can keep moving forward.
Prior to joining the firm, Rebecca had a more than 20-year career with healthcare-related government agencies, which culminated in her role as general counsel of DPH. She served as the agency’s lead attorney and provided guidance and legal oversight for a staff of nearly 50 legal professionals, the Commissioner’s office, 10 bureaus, 21 boards of professional registration, and the four public health hospitals.
Rebecca is fluent in state government terminology. She has an in-depth understanding of how these agencies think, what they look for in proposals, and where their concerns are likely to lie. Her knowledge of problems that must be addressed before a project goes before state regulators helps prevent delays, and her ease in communicating with government officials helps clients get to yes faster.