ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The revision of the 2014 MDL Standards and Best Practices is the work product of more than thirty practitioners and seven federal judges. Eight of the practitioners assumed greater drafting responsibility and served as team leaders, including: Team Leaders James Bilsborrow Weitz & Luxenberg Mark Chalos Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein Brenda Fulmer Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley Michelle Mangrum Shook Hardy & Bacon Steven Marshall Venable Ellen Relkin Weitz & Luxenberg Kaspar Stoffelmayr Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott Sean Wajert Shook Hardy & Bacon The following practitioners helped draft particular sections of the text: Contributors James Beck Reed Smith Paul Boehm Williams & Connolly Maya Eaton Sidley Austin Gretchen Eoff Garden City Group Yvonne Flaherty Lockridge Grindal Nauen Amy Gernon Mara Cusker Gonzalez Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan Steve Herman Herman Herman & Katz Alyson Jones Butler Snow Allan Kanner Kanner & Whiteley Altom Maglio Maglio Christopher & Toale Mary Massaron Plunkett Cooney Debbie Moeller Shook Hardy & Bacon Mark Myhra Boston Scientific Andrew Myers Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell Christopher Ritchie The Huntington National Bank Alan Rothman Arnold & Porter Susan M. Sharko Drinker Biddle & Reath Rebecca K. Wood, Sidley Austin LLP until June 2017 Amy Zeman Girard Gibbs Kenneth Zucker Pepper Hamilton
There are 52 separate state Medicaid lien recovery programs, which complicates the resolution of Medicaid liens. One advantage of using an experienced Lien Resolution Administrator is that they should already have well established connections with these recovery programs. Resolving Medicare Part C and other private liens in mass litigations, presents additional difficulties because, unlike federal Medicare and state Medicaid programs, there is no centralized system through which a Lien Resolution Administrator or the parties can affirmatively identify whether liens exist in favor of one of the thousands of potential private health plans. Many private insurers hire private recovery contractors to manage lien claims. The court-designated representatives should consider establishing a Private Resolution Program (“PLRP”) to verify and resolve the complexities of private lien payment. An experienced Lien Resolution Administrator can assist in untangling these complexities and help identify the necessary recovery contractors needed in order to have an effective PLRP. Best Practice 17B: The transferee judge should assist the parties in the healthcare lien process by issuing orders, as needed, requiring periodic reporting. The transferee judge can shorten the healthcare lien resolution timeline by requiring periodic reporting from the parties and lien administrator and by assisting, when needed, in advancing the process. If the parties choose to use a Lien Resolution Administrator, they should seek a court order naming that administrator, thereby permitting the administrator to communicate directly with Medicare and other lienholders. Such an order should also authorize disclosure and exchange of settling plaintiffs’ protected health information. ….[Material omitted from 2014 MDL Standards and Best Practices.] CHAPTER 7 FEDERAL/STATE COORDINATION ….[Material omitted from 2014 MDL Standards and Best Practices.]
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