Felicia Y. Sze

Athene Law LLP

San Francisco

Counseling, compliance

Sze founded Athene Law in 2018, identifying it as a "Next Gen Health Law Boutique" and bringing to it her law degree and a master's degree in public health and a BA in molecular cell biology-genetics. The firm is named for the Greek goddess of heroic endeavors. Its two partners and three of counsel work from home offices to field cases in San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego.

Her normal work has been overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic.

"It's an unpredictable time," Sze said, "though it's a good time to have a virtual law firm, because there was no time lost on pivoting from an office setting."

Sze is outside general counsel for the Hospital Association of San Diego and Imperial Counties and the Hospital Council of Northern and Central California. She represented the 911 Ambulance Medi-Cal Providers Alliance, a statewide trade association representing large private ambulance companies in the development of the Medi-Cal Ground Emergency Medical Transportation Quality Assurance Fee, which provides about $200 million in add-on Medi-Cal reimbursement to ambulance providers.

"It's a difficult time for some providers," she said. "It can be famine or feast. Some have volume down by as much as 80 percent, like the surgical center that has put elective procedures on hold during the crisis.

"Hospital or ambulance companies are dealing with cash flow and staffing issues, and within two to five weeks they saw an incredible surge of unknown size and duration."

Sze is an expert on Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement matters, focusing on both the managed care and fee-for-service programs. She regularly reviews, revises and negotiates managed care contracts; she advises providers on an array of compliance and reimbursement issues and in disputes with managed care entities and government payors.

"I worked for the Department of Health and Human Services and as a presidential management fellow, and I realized I wanted to have an impact on policy. So I knew that a law degree would help me fight for the proper interpretation of existing laws," she said.

Her first law job was at prominent health care firm Hooper, Lundy & Bookman PC, where her mentor was name partner Lloyd Bookman. "A titan in the field," Sze said. She made partner there in 2014.

"It's bittersweet to no longer be working with him. He helped me find deeper ways to think about the law, how these federal and state systems work. He helped me bring my law school education into the joy of practice."

-- John Roemer