Hope Levy-Biehl

Hope Levy-Biehl is co-chair of the health care law practice at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP. With more than 20 years of experience, she has partnered with health care organizations to navigate complex regulations while achieving their business goals.

One notable case Levy-Biehl led within the past two years involved serving as lead regulatory counsel to the El Centro Regional Medical Center. During a period of leadership changes, she provided advice on licensing, certification, contracting, dispute resolution and general counsel.

Reflecting on her experiences, Levy-Biehl discussed her involvement with El Centro Regional Medical Center during a transitional period without a dedicated in-house hospital attorney.

"It was difficult to navigate how best to address the legal and operational issues the hospital was experiencing during this time of transition without the benefit of historic knowledge or continuity in leadership," she said. "While challenging, my input and involvement was well-received and I was able to step in quickly to handle important and meaningful work," she said.

Additionally, she acted as lead regulatory counsel to Verity Health System during its Chapter 11 bankruptcy, overseeing regulatory support, hospital sales and negotiations with Medicare and Medi-Cal programs.

"The Verity hospital bankruptcy was one of the most meaningful and impactful cases I have worked on. Over the course of two years, we worked collaboratively with the client, co-counsel, and other advisors to successfully sell four hospitals," Levy-Biehl said. "We also endured one failed sale, completed the orderly (but unfortunate) closure of one hospital, and had to work through three different attorney general approval processes. I'm very proud of the outcome, which resulted in our maintaining access to health care, charity care and community benefits across three counties (Santa Clara, San Mateo, and Los Angeles)," Levy-Biehl said.

Regarding trends in the health care field, Levy-Biehl highlights the severe financial challenges faced by hospitals. "Among other things, rising costs, inadequate payor reimbursement, unfunded mandates (and, specifically, seismic safety compliance expenditures for California hospitals), as well as a change in the delivery of health care and shift out of the hospital are putting hospitals throughout the state and country at risk of closure, threatening continued access to care in many underserved communities," she said.

Apart from her legal work, Levy-Biehl is a co-founder of Beverly Hills Community Farm, Inc., a nonprofit operating an urban, educational farm.