Dan Hettich is a partner with a national practice focused on Medicare reimbursement issues affecting hospitals and health systems. He provides comprehensive services within the area of Medicare reimbursement -- from advising clients on agency requirements, to lobbying Congress when a change in statute is necessary, to defending clients against Medicare related FCA claims – with a special focus on litigating agency errors or misinterpretations in Federal court under standards created by the APA.
Dan recently led briefing and did oral argument before the Ninth Circuit in Empire Health v. Becerra where the Ninth Circuit vacated a CMS policy that almost universally decreased payments to hospitals that treat a disproportionate share of indigent patients. In November of 2021, he defended the Ninth Circuit’s decision in oral argument before the Supreme Court of the United States.
In prior years, Dan has won final, favorable decisions overturning national CMS policy governing the reimbursement of Medicare bad debts, as well as agency denials of new residency program status (worth tens of millions of dollars to both of the hospitals); provider-based status (also worth many millions of dollars to the hospital); critical access hospital status; and volume decrease adjustments. In addition, he recently settled a False Claims Act case for about one-tenth of the alleged treble damages amount, in an issue of first impression in which the Department of Justice's underlying cause of action stemmed from the hospital's reporting of wage data affecting its wage-index.
Dan completed his six-year term as Vice Chair of the American Health Lawyers Association's Regulation, Accreditation and Payment practice group. He is also a frequent speaker at the AHLA's annual Institute on Medicare and Medicaid Payment, as well as a speaker for the AHLA's Annual Meeting, HFMA's Annual Meeting, and the American Bar Association Health Law Summit.
Dan is ranked by Chambers for DC Healthcare; listed as a Top-Rated Health Care Attorney in Washington, DC by Super Lawyers; named a Legal500 Next Generation Partner in 2024; and named one of the nation’s top litigators 40 or under each year from 2016-2020 by Benchmark Litigation.
Dan earned his J.D. from Georgetown University, where he also earned an M.A. in philosophy with a concentration in bioethics.
