Robert Wells is a shareholder in Baker Donelson's Baltimore office and co-leader of the Health Care Regulatory team. He represents clients in health care regulatory and corporate matters, and draws upon more than 20 years of experience representing long-established and startup health care companies to help clients meet their business goals and objectives while complying with applicable health care rules and regulations.
Mr. Wells' practice primarily focuses on fraud and abuse issues. He handles complex legal and operational matters, such as the development, implementation, and assessment of corporate compliance programs for providers across the health care industry, including the challenging regulatory issues governing pharmaceutical and medical device companies and their interactions with health care providers. In addition, Mr. Wells has assisted with the development and growth of innovative technology and health care data analytics partnerships.
His regulatory compliance experience involves both federal and state issues. He is well versed in fraud and abuse laws; corporate governance; reimbursement issues; the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and state and international privacy laws; the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA); and health care licensure, certification, and accreditation.
Mr. Wells previously served as in-house counsel. He was the chief legal officer of Integra Connect, a health care practice management and technology company where he gained firsthand experience with the legal and compliance implications of emerging value-based care initiatives, and continues to counsel health care providers on the development and implementation of value-based and care coordination arrangements. He also served as general counsel of Flatiron Health, a health care IT and data analytics company, and in senior legal roles at the Fortune 20 companies AmerisourceBergen and Cardinal Health, where he excelled at balancing the strategic and operational needs of the company with ensuring compliance with the complex health care regulatory environment.
Health care corporate and transactional matters are also components of Mr. Wells' practice. In addition to business counseling, negotiating, and drafting a wide range of health care service contracts, he has negotiated and executed commercial acquisitions, including managing transactional due diligence related to mergers and acquisitions involving privately-held and publicly traded entities.
Mr. Wells has represented for-profit and non-profit health care entities, including hospitals, health systems, drug and device manufacturers and distributors, independent clinical laboratories, long term care facilities, trade associations and physicians.
In addition to his health care regulatory and general corporate law experience, he has counseled clients on virtually all aspects of employment law.