Harry J. Nelson

Nelson Hardiman LLP

Los Angeles

Regulatory counseling

Nelson, the founder and managing partner of Nelson Hardiman, which bills itself as the largest health care specialty law firm in Los Angeles, self-quarantined March 9 after learning that coronavirus had been diagnosed among several present at a Washington, D.C., AIPAC conference he'd attended.

"I lost my sense of smell. I suspect I had a mild case," Nelson said in early April. "I haven't been tested--I'm waiting for an antibody test to be available." After 14 days the virus tends to clear out of the body, he added. "I'm fine now."

The onslaught of the pandemic put his firm under intense pressure.

"We've never been so busy. Litigation has fallen off with the courts nearly shut, of course, but the rush of clients trying to adjust has been enormous." Nelson said that he and his colleagues have themselves adapted to working from home. "We're communicating well. It's a learning process."

The firm now focuses on immediate needs.

"We've been working with the state Department of Public Health to open multiple closed hospitals. We're advising cities on preparing for overflow cases. We're trying for fast track approval of tests," Nelson said.

He and his colleagues are also preparing for the future. "We are looking at how to certify the workforce for return to their jobs, how we can best come out of this as the crisis eases."

An existing client, San Francisco-based Lemonaid Health, which calls itself a national online doctor's office, was early to join the emerging telehealth industry by offering primary care video visits and other remote services, including medicine delivery. Nelson has long served as lead regulatory counsel, overseeing the company's development of a national telehealth platform.

"The company is well-grounded and very focused on conditions that don't require a visit to the doctor," he said. "Sinus infections, anxiety and depression treatment, that kind of thing. They are willing to be a leader in moving the conversation around standard of care issues. I have navigated their regulatory strategy since 2012."

Nelson said the company followed reports of the coronavirus out of China from early January. "The big issue at once was seen to be the availability of testing. Lemonaid was on this early. Since the fall of 2019 they've been working on a partnership with Scanwell Health, a diagnostic lab invested in telehealth."

In the world of remote physician visits, the current emergency has energized the technique. "It's been a watershed moment, with movement on a lot of the reimbursement issues [by insurers] we've been fighting for for years. There's an overnight realization it's a necessity."

Nelson uses Lemonaid himself, he said. "I always test my clients to see how they work. Aside from an annual physical, I don't go to the doctor myself much these days."

-- John Roemer