Clifford E. Barnes

Listen to this article

Clifford E. Barnes

Co-Chair of Health Plan Compliance Group & Member of the Firm — Epstein Becker Green 

Clifford E. Barnes is a Member of the Firm in the Health Care and Life Sciences practice in the firm’s Washington, D.C., and New York offices and serves as Co-Chair of the firm’s Health Plan Compliance Group. Mr. Barnes has been employed by the firm for over 30 years and represents providers, including hospitals, hospital systems, nursing homes, home health, hospice, ancillary service companies; managed care companies, concentrating in Medicare and Medicaid; and non-profit associations. Mr. Barnes is the Co-Founder of Medicaid Health Plans of America, Inc., and currently serves as Vice Chair of the Accountable Care Organization Task Force of the American Health Lawyers Association. In 2016 and 2017, Mr. Barnes was selected to the Washington DC Super Lawyers list in the area of Health Care. He was also recommended in The Legal 500 United States (2016), for Health Insurers.

Mr. Barnes:

• Counsels health care providers and payors on issues related to mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and various forms of contracting, including accountable care organization arrangements, international transactions, antitrust issues, fraud and abuse, and compliance programs
• Serves as special counsel for post-acute clients, including nursing home, home health, and long-term acute care facilities
• Serves as general counsel for nursing home and home health clients
• Serves as general and special counsel for managed care companies, including Medicare and Medicaid health plans
• Serves as general and special counsel for non-profit associations, including Medicaid Health Plans of America (“MHPA”) and the National Medical Association, among others
• Counsels providers on forming clinically integrated networks
• Represents providers in JCAHO accreditation appeals
• Counsels clients on compliance program effectiveness
• Counsels clients on federal and state regulation, including insurance regulation and state health planning regulation

Prior to entering law school, Mr. Barnes worked as the Executive Assistant to the Deputy Commissioner of the New York City Health Department and as the Assistant Director for Project Review at the Health System Agency of New York City. Mr. Barnes has served on several boards and is currently a Board member of CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield, the National Association of Health Services Executives, and the MHPA, among others.

Mr. Barnes speaks regularly on current health care issues.

Some of Mr. Barnes’ recent publications and presentations related to health care law include:

• The Future of Health Care Reform, The Health Law and Policy Students Association, American University Washington College of Law, Washington, DC, February 8, 2017
• British Virgin Islands: Implementing National Health Insurance—Do’s and Don’ts, at the National Health Insurance Conference of the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labor of St. Maarten, January 26, 2017
• British Virgin Islands: The New National Health Insurance, Design, Performance and Implementation, at the 11th Caribbean Conference on National Health Financing Initiatives, Bonaire, October 26, 2016