Deborah L. Gersh
Partner
Deborah Gersh is the co-chair of Ropes & Gray’s nationally recognized health care practice and the co-leader of the firm’s Health Care and Life Sciences Industry Group. She has over thirty years of experience advising health care industry clients and investors on mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures, and the complex regulatory regimes implicated by such transactions. She has also counselled many clients through the implementation of value-based care (“VBC”) initiatives, and is recognized as a leading voice on structuring innovative arrangements, including novel business models and structures designed to foster biotechnology companies expansion beyond their traditional market into the provider space. She also publishes and presents extensively on VBC.
As a leading practitioner also on privacy, data security and cyber-security issues, Ms. Gersh advises clients on an array of data privacy, protection and security matters under HIPAA as well as state privacy and security laws. She has represented clients involved in security incidents involving protected health and other sensitive personal information, including representing clients in matters involving the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, as well as HIPAA security audits and qui tam actions initiated by state and federal government authorities.
Recently, she was part of the firm’s team that secured a landmark victory for LabMD in its dispute with the FTC over the company’s security practices.
Ms. Gersh’s clients include pharmaceutical manufacturers and medical device companies, managed care companies, dental service organizations and practice management companies, academic medical centers and community hospitals as well as private equity and venture capital companies investing in the health care and life sciences industries.
She is a member of the Ropes & Gray Women’s Forum, which promotes professional growth among female lawyers.
Experience
- Blackstone – Deborah acted as lead regulatory counsel in negotiation of a joint venture arrangement between Change Healthcare Holdings, a portfolio company of Blackstone, and McKesson’s technology services business.
- Madison Dearborn Partners – Deborah represented MDP as lead regulatory counsel in its joint venture with Walgreens Infusion Services in which MDP acquired a majority interest in its infusion therapy business.
- Cressey & Co. – Represented Cressey & Co. in its sale of Strategic Healthcare Programs to Roper Industries.
- Bain Capital LP – Deborah acted as lead health care counsel in connection with its acquisition of Navicure, a leading provider of cloud-based claims management and patient payment solutions for physician practices and hospitals.
- Data Company – Deborah was lead regulatory counsel in connection with the $1 billion acquisition by a private equity company of a health care clearinghouse and data aggregation company.
- Heartland Dental, LLC – Deborah represented Heartland, the largest dental support organization, in the sale of Heartland’s controlling interest from Teachers’ Private Capital, the investment division of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, to KKR in March, 2018. Revenues for the supported practice exceeded $1.3 billion in 2017.
- HIPAA – Deborah represented a managed care plan, in connection with an OCR-initiated HIPAA Privacy and Security Audit, as well as a practice management company and a medical center, each in connection with OCR initiated HIPAA Data Breach Investigations and state AG related audits.
Publications
- Quoted, “If you get coronavirus, how much can your employer and public health officials reveal about your identity?” The Chicago Tribune (March 17, 2020)
- Featured, “Health Care Group Of The Year: Ropes & Gray,” Law360 (January 28, 2020)
- Quoted, “Mergers and Acquisitions, Private Equity in Healthcare Primed for Continued Robust Activity,” Healthcare Finance (May 6, 2019)
- Profiled, “Health Care Trailblazers,” National Law Journal (May 1, 2019)
- Quoted, “HHS Shifts Spotlight to Value-Based Care With RFI Looking at How HIPAA Inhibits Coordination,” Health Care Compliance Association’s Report on Patient Privacy (December 12, 2018)
- Quoted, “Upcoming HIPAA audits to use harsher investigative tools,” McKnight’s Long Term Care News (October 29, 2018)
- Quoted, “Health Agency Brandishes Privacy Enforcement Hammer,” Bloomberg Law's Big Law Business (October 26, 2018)
- Co-author, “What To Know About CMS' New Bundled Payment Model,” Law360 (February 5, 2018)
- Quoted, “Health Care Policy to Watch in 2018,” Law360 (January 1, 2018)
- Quoted, “Value-Based Care: 5 Not-So-Easy Pieces,” Managed Care Magazine (December 2017)
- Cited, “In the News,” The Chicago Daily Law Bulletin (September 27, 2017)
- Cited, “In the News,” The Chicago Daily Law Bulletin (September 25, 2017)
- Co-author, “Is the Current Anti-Kickback Enforcement Environment Stifling Innovation in Health Care?” Bloomberg BNA’s Health Law Reporter (August 10, 2017)
- Quoted, “Health care fraud: The hot new legal practice?,” Crain’s Chicago Business (July 19, 2017)
- Co-Author, “Ten Things Investors Need to Know About Value-Based Healthcare,” ACG Chicago's The Journal (June 12, 2017)
- Co-author, “Compliance And The Transition To Value-Based Care,” Law360 (May 31, 2017)
- Co-author, “Value-Based Health Care: 10 Things Investors Should Know,” Law360 (May 10, 2017)
- Quoted, “How Healthcare Organizations Should Prepare for a HIPAA Audit,” Health Data Management (April 25, 2017)
- Quoted, “Prioritizing Healthcare Data Security in Aggregation, Sharing,” Health IT Security (April 19, 2017)
- Quoted, “Trump's HHS Moving Fast To Grant Industry Wishes,” Law360 (March 20, 2017)
- Co-author, “What’s Ahead for Value-Based Health Care,” Law360 (March 1, 2017)
- Quoted, “How PE could be the cure hospitals are looking for,”The Deal (September 16, 2016)
- Co-author, “LabMD and FTC's Attempt to Expand Data Security Authority,” Law360 (August 3, 2016)
- Co-Author, “Evaluating Investments in Value-Based Care,” The Journal (July 5, 2016)
- Quoted, “In healthcare, linkages between strategic and PE firms prove a potent tonic,” The Deal (June 17, 2016)
- Co-author, “Key Data Privacy and Security Concerns for Investment Firms,” Law360 (May 20, 2016)
- Quoted, “Don’t Forget that Small HIPAA Violations can cause Big Problems for Hospitals,” Healthcare Risk Management (May 1, 2016)
- Quoted, “New HIPAA audits will target healthcare industry's business partners,” Modern Healthcare (March 21, 2016)
- Co-author, “Clearing Up Developer Health App Questions,” Law360 (February 26, 2016)
- Quoted, “4 Best Practices for GCs in Health Care M&A,” Corporate Counsel (September 8, 2015)
- Co-Author, “Dental Service Organizations Face Unintended Consequences From Government Scrutiny,” The New York Law Journal (August 10, 2015)
- Quoted, “Supreme Court ruling carries implications for regulatory boards,” Modern Healthcare (February 25, 2015)
- Quoted, “Supreme Court, in ‘Enormous Win for FTC,' Finds No Antitrust Immunity for Dental Board,” Bloomberg BNA Health Care Daily Report (February 25, 2015)
- Quoted, “Obamacare, Fraud, and Antitrust Top Legal Issues in 2015,” Modern Healthcare (January 12, 2015)
Presentations
- Presenter, “California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA),” Counseling and Compliance – Health Care and Life Sciences – Roundtable Discussions, New York (October 7, 2019) and Chicago (November 14, 2019)
- Presenter, “Sharing Health Data: Challenges and Solutions,” Privacy + Security Forum (October 21, 2019 - October 23, 2019)
- Presenter, “From Innovation to Solutions: Building Strategic Partnership in an Evolving Digital Health Landscape,” Ropes & Gray Digital Health Forum (September 18, 2019)
- Panelist, “Value-Based Health Care: Strategic Partnerships,” Value-Based Health Care: New Models for Success Conference, San Francisco (April 10, 2019)
- Presenter, “ONC and CMS Interoperability, Information Blocking, and Patient Access Proposed Rules – What You Need To Know,” Ropes & Gray Webinar (April 2019)
- Presenter, “Convergence: When Device, Pharma and Digital Health Companies Become Providers,” IPMI 2019 Conference (March 4, 2019)
- Presenter, “Use of Data in Value Based Care Initiatives: Reconciling Data Sharing and Individual Privacy Concerns,” Privacy & Security Forum (October 5, 2018)
- Moderator, “Navigating Reimbursement and Costs in Healthcare,” Kayo Private Equity Summit (October 3, 2018)
- Panelist, “The Importance of Data in Value-based Health Care,” Will Value-based Care Save the Health Care System? Conference at Harvard Law School Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics (March 2, 2018)
- Presenter, “Data Aggregation: Risk, Reward and Responsibility,” Privacy & Security Forum (October 2017)
- Presenter, “Health Care Fraud Enforcement Summit,” Legal 500 (October 2017)
- Co-chair, “Health Privacy and Security Intensive Day,” Privacy & Security Forum (October 2017)
- Presenter, “Cyber-Hygiene Every Day Keeps Health-Care Ransomware Attacks Away,” Bloomberg Law’s Reassess, Reinforce, Resolve: Cybersecurity Best Practices in Health Care (September 2017)
- Presenter, “Challenges & Innovations In The Transition To Value-Based Healthcare,” Consero’s Healthcare General Counsel Forum (October 2016)
- Presenter, “Breach Response: Investigations, Prosecutions and What to Do,” Information Security Media Group Fraud & Breath Prevention Summit, New York (August 2016)
- Presenter, “When Government Oversight Goes Wrong,” Information Security Media Group Fraud & Breach Prevention Summit, Chicago (June 2016)
- Presenter, “Mind Your Data: Privacy, Portability, and Process,” Consero GC Forum, Nashville (September 2015)
Education
- JD, with honors, The George Washington University Law School
- BA, Northwestern University, Phi Beta Kappa
