Ronica F. Hutchison

Overview

Ronica Hutchison is an associate with Gjerset & Lorenz, LLP. Ms. Hutchison’s practice focuses on advising hospitals and physician groups on various transactional, state and federal regulatory compliance, legislative and reimbursement matters related to their participation in disproportionate share hospital programs, upper payment limit demonstrations, Medicaid managed care directed payment and quality incentive programs, Section 1115 and 1915(b) waivers, and graduate medical education programs. Ms. Hutchison also assists healthcare providers with the development and operation of non-profit organizations that support healthcare access and quality improvement initiatives for low-income populations.

In the Reimbursement area, Ronica:

• Designed, implemented and sustained various federal Medicaid supplemental reimbursement programs for hospitals in various states.
• Represented a state Medicaid agency related to the design, implementation, and operation of various Medicaid supplemental payment programs.
• Designed aggregate cap demonstration models to assist Medicaid State Agency with Medicaid State Plan Amendment on behalf of hospital clients.
• Analyzed opportunities for supplemental payment program financing through intergovernmental transfers, provider assessments, and state general revenue.
• Assisted with initiatives to optimize reimbursement under physician supplemental payment programs, including program enrollment, benefit projections, and quality reporting.
• Assisted hospital clients with financial forecasting and budgeting for various supplemental payment programs, including modeling impacts of operational changes on reimbursement projections.

In the Legislative and Regulatory area, Ronica:

• Worked with State Medicaid Agencies to develop comprehensive strategies for transitioning Medicaid patients to managed care options without disrupting Medicaid supplemental reimbursement funds.
• Advised hospital coalitions, state hospital associations, and trade associations to develop legislative strategies to maximize Medicaid reimbursement opportunities.

In the Operations and Compliance area, Ronica:

• Assisted hospital clients and physician practices with contracting issues and payment disputes.
• Advised hospitals on physician relationships to ensure compliance with Stark and Anti-Kickback laws, including public hospital compliance review of employed physician relationships.
• Assisted hospitals to form and sustain non-profit corporate entities and comply with licensure and reporting requirements.
• Developed charity care policy and procedures for national hospital system to comply with federal and various state legal requirements.
• Assisted in due diligence analysis for hospital acquisitions related to Medicaid supplemental payment programs.

Before beginning her legal career, Ms. Hutchison served as a Program Associate to the United Nations World Food Programme in Maputo, Mozambique while studying Portuguese as a Boren Scholar under the African Flagship Language Initiative.