Overview

Alice Harris is an experienced health care, reimbursement, and compliance attorney based in the Firm's Columbia, South Carolina office, where she assists hospitals, health care systems, physician practices, skilled nursing facilities, hospice agencies, home health care agencies, and other health care providers with a wide variety of matters. Her practice focuses on health care regulatory compliance, payor audit appeals and defense, reimbursement, billing and coding, COVID-19 advice, compliance program guidance, response to federal and state contractor audits, internal investigations, fraud and abuse analysis and litigation matters, federal and state survey and certification matters, Medicaid Cost Report appeals, EMTALA investigations, transactional compliance due diligence, and other health care regulatory and litigation matters.

Alice has experience handling overpayment and extrapolated overpayment appeals related to Medicare, Medicaid, and Commercial payor audits, including UPIC, ZPIC, MIC, and other contractor audits. She also assists providers with proactive compliance assistance to reduce exposure to audits, as well as root cause examinations and the development of corrective action plans to address underlying issues related to ongoing payor audits.

Her compliance analysis and advice experience ranges from initial formation and restructuring of compliance programs, including policy and procedure development, to internal investigations, potential whistleblower exposure, and coordination of ongoing coding reviews.

Alice also has extensive health care litigation experience including:

  • Defense of Medicare and Medicaid fraud investigations
  • Defending False Claims Act allegations, investigations, and qui tam lawsuits
  • Defense and appeal of Medicare and Medicaid overpayment and/or alleged fraud issues and payment suspension matters
  • Medicaid Cost Report appeals
  • Defense of EMTALA surveys and complaints
  • Defense of survey and certification matters
  • Prior to joining the firm, Alice worked for an east-coast based law firm where she regularly provided regulatory analysis and litigation services and presented on health care matters.
  • Alice also previously served as Operational Vice President of Corporate Integrity for Tuomey Healthcare System and as in-house compliance counsel for Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System.

Community & Professional

  • Member, Health Care Compliance Association
  • Member, American Health Lawyers Association
  • Member, American Bar Association
  • Member, South Carolina Bar
  • Member, Richland County Bar Association
  • Member, South Carolina Defense Trial Attorneys' Association
  • Past Chairperson of the South Carolina Bar's Health Care Law Section

Recognitions

  • Best Lawyers in America Lawyer of the Year, Columbia, SC for Health Care Law - 2019
  • Listed in Best Lawyers in America for Health Care Law - 2013-2021
  • Martindale-Hubbard “AV” Preeminent Peer Review Rated
  • Turnaround Management Association's Non-Profit Company Transaction of the Year – 2016

Media

Presentations

  • Co-Speaker, SC Hospital Association 21st Annual CFO Forum, “Healthcare Law: Current Litigation Challenges to Monitor” August 19, 2022

  • Co-Speaker, SC Health Care Association Summer Splash, “Hot Summer News: Recent Legal and Regulatory Developments” August 10, 2022

  • Co-Speaker, The Carolinas Center's 46th Annual Hospice and Palliative Care Conference, “Hospice Audits:  Tips and Strategies to Increase Success” August 2, 2022

  • Speaker, SCHA Annual CFO Forum, "Current Audit Topics and Effective Strategies for Defensing Audits" August 18, 2021
  • Co-Speaker, SCHA 20th Annual CFO Forum, "The Changing Liability Considerations Arising from the use of Telehealth," August 18, 2021
  • Speaker, “Building Robust Compliance Programs: From Essential Features to Selection of Effective Compliance Leadership,” CASP Conference, January 11, 2021
  • Writer: “Retain Payment for Your Services! Claiming Offsets in Overpayment Appeals,” November 2020 edition of Compliance Today Magazine
  • Speaker, "Winning Payor Audits! Tips for Overcoming Denials," November 6, 2019
  • Speaker, "Following the Payor Audit Trail," July 19, 2018
  • Speaker, “At a Crossroads – EMTALA & Psychiatric Patients in an Era of Strained Resources,” January, 2018
  • Writer, “Compliance Diligence in Buy-Sell Transactions,” Spring 2018
  • Speaker, “Compliance Programs 101,” August 7, 2017
  • Speaker, “EMTALA and the Behavioral Health Patient,” October 24, 2016
  • Speaker, “Compliance 3.0: Maximizing Compliance to Reduce Individual and Organizational Risk,” April 25, 2016
  • Speaker, “Enforcement Trends and Initiatives, Panel Discussion,” May 9, 2014

In the News

  • Media Mention, Alice Harris and Jenna Godlewski’s article on preparing for the end of the Federal PHE was republished in South Carolina Lawyer’s September 24, 2022 edition.
  • Alice Harris and Jenna Godlewski appeared on The Compliance Guy Podcast, Episode 2 on July 28, 2022, discussing the 2022 CMS Framework and Six CMS Trends to Follow for 2022 and beyond.

Taking the Pulse - A Health Care Podcast

Co-Host, Episode 11: Rev. Dr. Franklin Fant, CEO of Presbyterian Communities of South Carolina, Maynard Nexsen & NP Strategy, Columbia, SC, July 21, 2020

Paint the Medical Picture Podcast 

Guest Co-Host, Season 2, Episode 3: Best Practices for Handling Payor Audit Letters, January 20, 2021

Insights

Videos/Podcasts

Podcasts

  • Tina is joined by Nexsen Pruet Health Care attorneys Alice Harris and Matthew Roberts. Alice and Matthew talk about Nexsen Pruet's reimbursement practice and audit predictions and trends for 2022. Tune in! 

  • For episode 11, we're joined by Presbyterian Communities of South Carolina CEO Rev. Dr. Franklin Fant, and Nexsen Pruet health care attorney Alice Harris makes her Taking The Pulse debut. Dr. Fant, Heather and Alice discuss COVID19's impact on senior living facilities, especially in a place like Presbyterian Communities, which offers a huge range of services for senior citizens (assisted living, independent living, health care and hospitality services, and more).

In the News

Admissions

  • State Bar: South Carolina
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