Mark E. Reagan

Mark E. Reagan is one of the nation's leading lawyers for high-stakes matters in the post-acute and long-term care sector. His client base extends across the United States, encompassing innovative life sciences companies, hospitals, physician groups, rehabilitation companies, home health agencies, hospices and medical product suppliers.

He represented the California Association of Health Facilities in a case that sought to ensure that individuals lacking legal decision-making capacity could receive skilled nursing services even when they had no one to make medical decisions on their behalf. CANHR v. Angell (2019) 38 Cal App. 5th 838.

Through his involvement in this case and subsequent collaboration with the California Legislature and the Governor's Office, Reagan successfully established a legal framework allowing these individuals to receive the care they need. His efforts led to the drafting and enactment of state Senate Bill 135 in July 2021, which established the Office of the Long-Term Care Patient Representative Program. Since its implementation, Reagan has been working closely with the California Department of Aging to support the long-term care program and provide guidance in its interaction with skilled nursing facilities.

The significance of Reagan's work lies in its impact on preserving access to skilled nursing and long-term care in California. "If the most vulnerable of our society cannot be served because they lack the capacity to make health care decisions and have no one to act on their behalf, then we have failed to have a functional health care system," Reagan said. "Preserving that access and protecting the constitutional rights of those individuals at the same time is important."

Another significant accomplishment for Reagan was securing Medicaid reimbursement for CAHF in relation to COVID-19. Reagan was part of the CAHF negotiating team for the extension of the Medi-Cal reimbursement system for skilled nursing facilities, which was enacted on June 30, 2022, by Assembly Bill 186 as part of the 2022-23 California Budget Act.

"Without significant funds to support skilled nursing and other long-term care providers, this safety net would have collapsed," Reagan explained. "Convincing the state government that a 10% increase to Medi-Cal funding was immediately necessary to meet the enormous additional costs to protect patients and keep the caregiver workforce on the job (and healthy) was an enormous challenge. ... Persuading policymakers that the billions of additional dollars to make this happen and making sure that the legislation balanced the needs of providers, workers and patients was enormously challenging. This was a twenty-four-hour and seven-day week job over a very short time frame that operated to save lives and retain the necessary health care infrastructure for the elderly and disabled population."

Beyond his professional accomplishments, his professional affiliations include memberships in esteemed organizations such as the American Bar Association's Health Law Section, the American Health Care Association (AHCA), the American Health Lawyers Association and the California Society for Healthcare Attorneys.