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Krista  Thornton  Cooper
Associate
Nashville
P:(615) 742-7734
F:(615) 742-0430
E-mail Krista Thornton Cooper
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Education
Vanderbilt University - J.D., 2004
Vanderbilt University - B.A., 2000

Court Admissions
U.S. District Court, Middle District of Tennessee, 2005

Bar Admissions
Tennessee, 2004

Memberships
American Bar Association
Nashville Bar Association
Lawyers' Association for Women (served as co-chair of Mentorship and Networking Committees)
Nashville Health Care Council's Leadership Health Care
Make-A-Wish Foundation's Young Leaders Board

Honors & Distinctions
Publication Editor, Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment Law & Practice
J. Michael Campbell Scholarship

Publications
"CMS Shifts From 'Pay and Chase' to Proactive Fraud Prevention," (co-authored with Anna Grizzle) HCCA Compliance Today (May 2011)
"What Physicians Should Know About Diagnostic Testing, IDTFs and the Anti-Markup Rule" AHLA Physicians and Physician Organizations Institute (February 2009) (Co-authored with Cindy Reisz)



Krista’s practice includes transactional, operational and regulatory work for a broad range of healthcare providers and companies, including ambulatory surgery centers, hospitals and health systems. She counsels clients on business and regulatory implications of joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions; assists healthcare providers with operational issues; analyzes arrangement for fraud and abuse compliance; and advises on self-referral and related issues affecting healthcare companies.

Krista has participated in valuable in-house assignments for clients, including a recent ten-month project advising HCA Inc. on all aspects of their ambulatory surgery center division, which consists of more than 100 surgery centers.

Specific representative transactions include:
  • Representation of buyers and corporate managers in multiple surgery center acquisitions, including drafting of asset purchase agreement, ancillary transaction documents and analysis of existing physician relationships and other due diligence matters.
  • Analyzing regulatory requirements and operational impacts related to issues concerning approximately 10,000 licenses and permits in connection with a multi-billion dollar leveraged buy-out of a hospital company.

Krista’s operational work includes:
  • Advising clients on Medicare and Medicaid audits, including working on appeals for same;
  • Advising clients on physician recruitment matters and drafting agreements for same;
  • Analyzing and preparing exclusive services arrangements for hospital-based physicians, such as pathologists and radiologists, including income subsidies;
  • Analyzing and preparing call coverage agreements in light of OIG fraud and abuse guidance; and
  • Analyzing and preparing multiple physician employment and professional services agreements with physicians of various specialties and employed by hospitals and physician groups.