Paul A. Carr-Rollitt

Carr-Rollitt focuses on health care transactions and regulatory issues as a partner in Manatt’s extensive health practice, a hybridized legal and consulting service. He moved to the firm in 2020 after working for over 20 years at McDermott Will & Emery.

“I had a great career at McDermott, and I moved primarily because my practice evolved into the place Manatt occupies—seeking more upmarket emphasis on larger deals,” he said. “Manatt’s platform seemed like an ideal spot for me.”

Carr-Rollitt’s expertise extends to regulatory issues impacting providers, health plans and risk-bearing entities, including his close familiarity with the Knox-Keene Act and analogous state laws across the country, corporate practice of medicine prohibition and health care antitrust issues. He also specializes in health system and physician integration strategies.

He led a team representing Canopy Health, a joint venture among UCSF Health, John Muir Health and several San Francisco Bay Area IPAs that operate a network of 19 hospitals and nearly 5,000 physicians. Canopy engaged in transactions with UnitedHealthcare Inc. to launch co-branded HMO, EP and Medicare Advantage health plans offered through its alliance provider network. One of the new plans, the California Doctors Plan, will save customers 25 percent on premiums and provide access to quality, affordable patient-focused health care for people with employer-sponsored health coverage in nine Bay Area counties, he said.

“Increasingly, we’re seeing this kind of vertical integration,” Carr-Rollitt said. “The players don’t operate in silos any more. Providers are getting into the risk business and insurance plans are getting into the provider business. There’s more collaboration and a lot of it relates to the shifting focus toward value-based care with the aim of making the cost of care well-managed and in step with high-quality care.”

The collaboration with UnitedHealthcare includes mutual investments, strategic and care management and member services initiatives besides the co-branded products. It represents an unprecedented payor-provider strategic relationship that in addition to the California Doctors Plan, and as part of an aggressive multi-year collaboration plan, Canopy Health and UnitedHealthcare are working to establish a robust data and analytics infrastructure to support advanced population health and value-based care initiatives.

Carr-Rollitt also assisted Astiva Health in its launch of a Medicare Advantage and prescription drug plan and achieved state Knox-Keene licensure and a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services contract. He also guided Canopy Health through a product collaboration agreement with Health Net, another Manatt client.

“The players that recognize that coordinating the delivery of high quality care, while managing risk and cost is an effective strategy, will thrive,” Carr-Rollitt said.

--John Roemer