Vorys Continues Houston Office Expansion with Experienced Health Care Attorney
Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP is pleased to announce that Jonathan Ishee, an attorney with more than 10 years of experience in the health care industry, has joined the firm as of counsel in the Houston office. Ishee focuses his practice on health regulatory and compliance issues, with a particular emphasis on hospital, health system and physician issues.
“Jonathan’s experience complements and enhances Vorys’ existing array of health care services, and he is now our third health care attorney licensed to practice in Texas,” said Jolie Havens, chair of the Vorys health care group. “Jonathan’s prior experience serving as general counsel to multi-specialty physician groups and independent practice associations, as well as a key regulator with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is an important asset for the Vorys health care practice.”
Ishee, who prior to joining Vorys practiced at Seyfarth Shaw, has significant experience with a variety of health care subspecialties, including HIPAA, EU privacy directives, managed care contracting, CMS and state insurance licensing, health information technology, health information exchanges, and fraud and abuse issues, including Stark, Anti-kickback laws and the False Claims Act. He also has experience counseling clients on the creation of health care joint ventures and Accountable Care Organizations.
“Jonathan brings a unique background that will further strengthen the capabilities that we offer to Vorys’ clients in Texas,” said Stephen Browning, managing partner of the Houston office. “We’re excited to welcome Jonathan to the Houston office, which opened five years ago with just four attorneys. Since then, we’ve experienced significant growth and now are four times larger.”
Ishee previously served as in-house general counsel to a multi-specialty medical practice that included an imaging center, full-risk independent practice association, diagnostic laboratory and Accountable Care Organization. In this role, he provided legal and strategic business advice, dealt with issues related to Medicare licensing and reimbursement, and counseled independent practice association staff on issues surrounding physician credentialing, utilization review and state insurance licensing.
As a key regulator with the Department of Health and Human Services, he focused on the complex issues related to health information exchanges, HITECH-mandated HIPAA modifications, the EHR incentive program and physician payment reform. He also served as lead staff to the HIT Policy Committee’s Information Exchange and Certification/Adoption Workgroups. While at HHS, Ishee was commended by Secretaries Leavitt and Sebelius for his contributions.
Ishee also serves as an assistant professor of biomedical informatics at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Biomedical Informatics and as an adjunct professor at the University of Houston Law Center.
Ishee has published several articles and serves as an associate editor of the IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine.
Ishee earned his J.D. cum laude from Tulane University, where he was the managing editor of the Tulane Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property. He also has a LL.M. in health law from the University of Houston Law Center. Ishee earned his B.S.M. from Tulane University. He earned his M.P.H. and M.S. from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
About Vorys: Vorys was established in 1909 and has grown to be one of the largest Ohio-based law firms with nearly 375 attorneys in seven offices in Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Akron, Ohio; Washington, D.C.; Houston, Texas; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Vorys currently ranks as one of the 200 largest law firms in the United States according to American Lawyer magazine.