Karl A. Schmitz

Karl Schmitz is co-chair of the firm’s business department. Mr. Schmitz has advised a wide variety of health care providers on business, general corporate and regulatory matters, including hospitals, individual physicians, physician groups, independent physician associations, health care consultants, management organizations and investors in health care businesses. A significant portion of his practice has focused on the merger and acquisition of health care businesses, including the purchase, sale and leasing of health care facilities, such as hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, ambulatory surgery centers and pharmacies.  Mr. Schmitz also has extensive experience advising clients on consolidation and alignment strategies, including the formation of medical foundations and other organizational affiliations.  He has represented for-profit and non-profit corporations, as well as county and local health care districts. He is also a member of the firm's Fraud & Abuse Practice Group. 

Mr. Schmitz also is experienced in the formation of business entities, raising capital through private offerings and syndications, and other general corporate matters. He regularly advises clients on contractual matters, such as the development of professional service agreements, coverage agreements, medical directorships and consulting agreements.  As such, his practice involves counseling clients on both federal and state regulatory matters such as anti-kickback and physician self-referral laws and state prohibitions against the corporate practice of medicine.

Mr. Schmitz received his B.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of Southern California in 1997. He received his J.D. from the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law in 2003 and was admitted to the California Bar that same year.

Professional Affiliations

• American Health Lawyers Association
• American Bar Association (Health and Business Sections)
• California Society for Healthcare Attorneys
• Los Angeles County Bar Association, Past Chair, Healthcare Law Section

Honors & Awards

• Recognized by Best Lawyers, 2022-2023
• Recognized as a Southern California Rising Star by Super Lawyers 2009 - 2012.

Presentations & Speaking Engagements

• Presenter, Evaluating Key Legal Considerations in a Transaction, World Congress Leadership Summit, Mergers & Acquisitions in Healthcare, April 8, 2013.
• Co-Presenter, Legal and Regulatory Hot Topics:  Medicare, Medicaid and the Dually-Eligible, 2012 Healthcare Corporate Development Roundtable, Washington, D.C., October 25, 2012.
• Co-Presenter, Brave New Healthcare World: Evaluating Opportunities: Hazards in     Healthcare Integration, Los Angeles County Bar Association, March 15, 2012.
• Co-Presenter, The Nuts and Bolts of Organizing and Affiliating Entities Involved In ACOs, presented at the CAPG Healthcare Conference 2010, Palm Desert, California, May 14, 2010.
• Co-Lecturer, Corporate Law and Tax Exemption, Fundamentals of Health Law and     Compliance, UCLA School of Public Health, February 23, 2010.
• Co-Lecturer, General Contract Principles and Antitrust Law, Fundamentals of Health Law and Compliance, UCLA School of Public Health, January 26, 2010.
• Co-Presenter, Physician Recruitment: Stark, Kickback and Tax-Exempt Issues, Presented to The Camden Group, April 15, 2009.

News

Health Law Perspectives

Other Publications

Publications

• To Disclose Or Not To Disclose Under The New Stark Disclosure Protocol?, 12 Health Law Perspectives 9 (November 2010).
• Accountable Care Organizations: Will They Deliver Effective and Cost Effective     Healthcare?  New Perspectives on Healthcare Risk Management, Control and Governance, Journal of the Association of Healthcare Internal Auditors, Vol. 29, No. 3 (September 2010).
• Physicians Providing In-Office Ancillary Services Must Meet New Disclosure Obligations To Satisfy Stark Law, 12 Health Law Perspectives 5 (June 2010).
• Appeals Court Decision Questions Hospital Provision of Free Use of Space, Equipment, Staff to Physicians, 11 Health Law Perspectives 5 (May 2009).
• Special Report: New Stark Physician Self-Referral Changes in Final 2009 Inpatient PPS Rules, 10 Health Law Perspectives 8 (August 2008).