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Zachary H. Fichtenbaum
Zach Fichtenbaum is an associate with Gjerset & Lorenz, LLP. Zach’s work focuses on Medicaid reimbursement issues in several states, with experience both in leveraging existing programs to further mitigate hospitals’ uncompensated care costs and analyzing opportunities to develop new programs that will serve as additional sources of funding. In this area, Zach researches complex regulatory compliance issues and scrutinizes changes to federal and state rules to assist clients in navigating a rapidly evolving legal landscape, with emphases in managed care and hospital financing.
Zach’s experience includes working in collaboration with industry stakeholders and the state Medicaid agency on the development, implementation, and operation of a state-directed managed care rate enhancement program, resulting in hospital payment increases of 40-60% over contracted base rates. In this capacity, Zach drafted contractual provisions addressing stakeholder concerns about risks of fluctuating utilization, some of which later served as model language now used in hundreds of managed care agreements.
He also advises clients on a wide array of related transactional and regulatory matters unique to the health care industry, with particular interests in federal administrative law, physician contracting, and compliance with anti-fraud and abuse provisions.
Before becoming an associate, Zach worked in the accounting and legal departments of Spindletop Oil & Gas Co. in Dallas. As a student at Michigan Law, he was an active member of the student organization Outlaws and served as a student attorney in the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic, where he contested alleged tax liabilities on behalf of indigent clients. Zach continues this work in a pro bono capacity with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid.
Education
- University of Michigan Law School, Juris Doctor, 2016
- University of Texas at Dallas, Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, summa cum laude, 2011
- Bill Archer Fellow, Fall 2010
Professional Affiliations
- Member, American Bar Association
- Member, American Health Law Association
- Member, Austin Bar Association
- Member, Texas State Bar – Health Law Section