David Deaton

Partner

David Deaton is a partner in O'Melveny's Los Angeles office and a member of the Health Care and Life Sciences and White Collar Defense and Corporate Investigations Practices. David's practice principally focuses on complex regulatory, enforcement and business matters involving various health care organizations. He regularly advises health care companies and audit committees in connection with internal corporate investigations and inquiries and investigations by federal and state enforcement authorities. David also counsels buyers and sellers in mergers and acquisitions, lenders and borrowers in lending transactions and workouts and health care companies faced with strategic business challenges and opportunities. David has substantial experience with state and federal anti-kickback and self-referral laws (e.g., the Stark law), state licensure laws, Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement laws, state and federal privacy laws, and laws regulating managed care organizations.

Illustrative Professional Experience

David's professional accomplishments include the successful defense of Alvarado Hospital Medical Center. In U.S. v. Weinbaum, et al., Alvarado and its co-defendants were accused of violating the federal anti-kickback statute by paying bribes, disguised as payments under physician relocation agreements, to local doctors in exchange for patient referrals. After a seven-month jury trial in U.S. District Court and jury deliberations lasting four months, the jury deadlocked and the court declared a mistrial. The government thereafter dismissed all criminal charges against Alvarado and its co-defendants pursuant to a civil settlement.

David's recent professional accomplishments include:

• Defending a national managed care organization in connection with state and federal investigations into cancellations of individual health care insurance policies
• Defending a nationally recognized physician clinic in connection with a U.S. Department of Justice investigation involving alleged violations of the anti-kickback statute, Stark laws and civil False Claims Act
• Conducting an internal investigation into whistleblower allegations concerning the quality control practices of a biotechnology manufacturer
• Reviewing a national managed care organization’s compliance with Medicare Advantage regulations
• Representing an academic medical center in connection with state and federal investigations into off-label marketing allegations related to pharmaceutical sponsorship of research activities
• Conducting an internal investigation into a biotechnology company's sales and marketing practices and research activities
• Conducting an internal investigation concerning a hospital-physician joint venture, including recommending and implementing certain corrective action measures
• Advising a pharmaceutical manufacturer in connection with its compliance program, sales and marketing practices, and issues related to compliance with the Medicaid Rebate Program
• Counseling a pharmacy benefits manager concerning compliance with federal and state regulatory requirements and the recent enforcement landscape affecting pharmacy benefits managers
• Representing a private equity fund in acquiring a dental practice management company
• Representing a private equity fund in acquiring a physician staffing company out of bankruptcy
  

Professional Activities

Author, “Enforcement Related to Off-Label Marketing and Use of Drugs
and Devices: Where Have We Been and Where Are We Going?,” Journal of Health & Life Sciences Law (Vol. 2, No. 2, Jan. 2009); “Practice Management Companies—Practice Pointers from Recent Case Law,” American Health Lawyers Association’s Hospitals & Health Systems Rx newsletter (Volume 10, Issue 2, June 2008); “Medicine, Law, and Business: Strange Bedfellows in the Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Industries,” Criminal Litigation (Vol. 7, No. 1, Fall 2007); “What is ‘Safe’ About the Government’s Recent Interpretation of the Anti-Kickback Statute Safe Harbors? . . . and Since When was Stark an Intent-Based Statute?,” Journal of Health Law, Fall 2003; “Check-the-Box: An Opportunity for States to Take Another Look at Business Formation,” SMU Law Review, Fall 1999
Member, American Bar Association, Health Law Section; American Health Lawyers Association; Health Care Compliance Association; Los Angeles Bar Association, Health Law Section
Lecturer, American Health Lawyers Association; Health Care Compliance Association
Selected, Nightingale's "Outstanding Healthcare Fraud & Compliance Lawyers 2009;" Nightingale's "Outstanding Young Healthcare Lawyers 2006"