Anil Shankar

Practice Areas

Corporate, Health Care

Career

Anil Shankar is a partner and health care lawyer with Foley & Lardner LLP, and a member of the firm’s Health Care Practice. He provides strategic counsel to health care providers as they navigate complex regulatory and reimbursement matters, with a particular focus on the Medicaid program and issues affecting safety net providers.

Anil is a lecturer at the UCLA School of Law, where he teaches Health Care Compliance.

Anil advises hospitals, clinics, health systems, other providers, managed care plans, and governmental entities on their participation in Medicaid programs. He has helped develop innovative new programs, including Medicaid supplemental payments, quality networks, state and local provider taxes or assessments, and public-private partnerships. He has extensive experience in the use of health care funding to address the social determinants of health and helped to design and implement California’s Whole Person Care pilots, which operate innovative programs for individuals experiencing homelessness, individuals leaving incarceration, individuals with significant mental health disorders, and other vulnerable populations.

He advises clients on a numerous Medicaid reimbursement and compliance issues, including overpayment investigations and analyses. He has also assisted numerous companies seeking to enter into the Medicaid program. Anil also has deep knowledge of Medicaid managed care and has helped plans and providers evaluate regulatory changes and structure alternative payment methodologies to meet their goals.

Anil heads the firm’s robust 340B Drug Pricing Program practice, which counsels hospital systems, federally qualified health centers, and federal grantees with regard to their obligations and opportunities under the program. He advises clients on compliance and overpayment issues, self-disclosures, internal and governmental audits, 340B contracting, and has helped to restructure entities to maximize 340B Program savings.

Anil has extensive experience advising clients on behavioral health reimbursement, operational, and compliance issues. He has counseled hospitals on health systems seeking to expand their behavioral health offerings, including strategic counseling to avoid licensing, regulatory, and reimbursement pitfalls. In addition, Anil has helped design systems to protect and share confidential patient information, including behavioral health information. He works with local behavioral health directors, providers, and managed delivery systems on issues related to funding, reimbursement, program development, and strategic implementation.

Anil advises health care providers and companies to track and oversee federal grants and reimbursement, including hemophilia treatment center funds, Ryan White funds, 340B funds, FQHCs, and has advised them during related audits. During the coronavirus pandemic, Anil advised hospitals, health systems, governmental entities, nursing facilities and other health care providers and companies with regard to their application, receipt and use of federal relief funds, including the Provider Relief Fund and Coronavirus Relief Fund. He has recovered millions of dollars by successfully challenging Medicaid reimbursement audit findings.

Professional Memberships

Faculty lecturer at the UCLA School of Law

Member, American Health Lawyer’s Association

Member, Los Angeles County Bar Association (Health Law Section)

Member, American Bar Association (Health Law Section)

Education