William Eck

William B. Eck is a partner in the Corporate Department of Seyfarth Shaw LLP’s Washington, D.C. office and chair of the firm’s national Health Care Mergers and Acquisitions practice. Mr. Eck’s experience in the health care arena ranges from matters involving mergers and acquisitions to sales and affiliations. He has handled over thirty purchase and sale transactions for hospital, long term care facility, and other health care provider clients.

More specifically, Mr. Eck has represented parties in syndications of ambulatory surgical centers, imaging centers, and other kinds of providers, as well as several hospitals and practice management companies in acquisitions of physician practices, including those specializing in primary care, emergency medicine, neonatal intensive care, radiology, and pathology.

In addition, Mr. Eck has also represented hospital and health system clients in the formation of various kinds of provider-sponsored health care networks. Some of his most recent work involves representing hospitals in the formation of a generic drug company.

In the arena of heath care regulation and compliance, Mr. Eck has served as outside regulatory counsel in numerous public company and REIT acquisitions, offering counsel on matters involving due diligence, licensure, compliance, and negotiation of health care representations and warranties.

He has been responsible for both Stark Law and fraud and abuse compliance in numerous physician transactions and arrangements with hospitals, long term care providers, durable medical equipment companies, ambulatory surgical centers, and other kinds of health care providers.

Mr. Eck has designed and implemented health care and HIPPA compliance plans, and counseled providers on responding to reported compliance and privacy issues under the plans. In addition, he has represented companies, boards of directors, and board committees in both internal and governmental investigations of various False Claims Act and fraud and abuse matters.

Specifically, Mr. Eck has defended providers in qui tam litigation that involved allegations of Stark, anti-kickback, and coding and billing violations, and has also represented such clients in Stark and anti-kickback self-disclosures.

Previously, Mr. Eck served as the Chief of Healthcare Affairs and General Counsel of a public company client under a criminal and civil Medicare fraud investigation. He is one of the few attorneys nationally to have represented health care clients in successfully working through both corporate integrity agreements and a deferred prosecution agreement that mandated a substantial compliance program and organizational change for a public company. Mr. Eck earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School and his B.A. from Loyola University Chicago, where he graduated summa cum laude.

Education:

• J.D., Harvard Law School (1982)
• B.A., Loyola University Chicago, summa cum laude (1979)