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Health Care Law Definition
Organisations in the health care sector are facing a range of complex issues, from the challenges represented by a growing and aging population, to the globalisation of health care through joint ventures, to the budget constraints and the intensive regulation that hospitals and other health care providers are experiencing. Whereas the law relating to pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and other health care products is harmonised throughout Europe the regulation of health care services and their organisation to a large extent still lies within the competence of the Members States of the EU and therefore is diverse.
Private and public hospital and medical care centre owners and operators, health care technology companies, financial and strategic investors, governmental, and public sector municipalities therefore require a deep understanding of the health care sector – both at a macro and micro level. Hence, they frequently obtain specialist knowledge of external law firms in regard to innovative solutions to many issues they are facing.
At this, they request legal expertise and know-how on health care regulation, antitrust and competition, public procurement, state aid, IT, private equity, venture capital, mergers and acquisitions, cooperation models between medical service providers or public-private-partnerships (PPP) and private-finance-initiatives (PFI) which help to ensure they achieve their commercial objectives. In particular private equity and venture capital companies require advising on transactions in the health care industry as well as the establishment, structuring, and ongoing management of their health care facilities.
Furthermore, medical service providers, in particular hospitals and their operators, health insurance funds, nursing home operators, as well as other market participants are interested in the health care sector. They want to be advised inter alia on corporate law (including mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance) and all regulatory issues relating to the sector. Other interesting topics law firms are frequently facing within the health care sector are the foundation and structuring of PPP, co-operation and outsourcing models as well as innovative industrial co-operation ventures, such as technology partnerships with medical engineering companies.
As the legislative and regulatory framework in the health care sector differs from one jurisdiction to another it requires specialist knowledge of both the local and international framework in order to obtain cross border transaction advice, support, and understanding.