Christine Whitney is an independent attorney who specializes in health law.
WHAT IS HEALTH LAW?
“I represent entities and individuals who provide medical care.” Some of the concerns she addresses include the development of integrated delivery systems, implementation of managed care programs, Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, state and federal regulatory compliance, contractual issues and long-term care.
WHO DOES SHE REPRESENT?
“I would define health law as representing providers of medical care: institutional providers such as labs, hospitals, durable medical equipment companies, all the companies that provide health services and also individual providers, such as doctors and physical therapists, in their regulatory issues. Medical malpractice cases are handled by personal injury firms.”
WHY DO THEY NEED
HER SERVICES?
“Issues individuals may have are licensing, disciplinary or medical staff issues. They may be doing joint ventures with another medical provider or have Medicare payment issues. The types of issues that hospitals and other provider entities have include problems with fiscal intermediaries or individual doctors. Hospitals often have problems with physicians that have personal issues that are endangering patients.”
WHAT KIND OF
PERSONAL PROBLEMS?
“Physicians over prescribing drugs or self-medicating.”
ANYTHING ELSE?
“We [health lawyers] also help other lawyers handle the business and payment issues for health care providers. The big deal in there is the enormous body of Medicaid and Medicare regulation.”
A HELPING HAND
Whitney has assistants such as paralegals and accountants on contract. “The actual legal work I do myself.”
HER ROOTS
Whitney was born in London, but she grew up in Venezuela. “My father was a colonel in the British Army. My mother was American.”
EDUCATION
Whitney earned her law degree at the University of California.
WHY SPECIALIZE IN
HEALTH LAW?
“When I graduated from law school, my good friend Quinn Denver [who is now a federal public defender] offered me a job at the State Department of Health Services in Sacramento. That was 1976. I just took to it. It’s fascinating, so I never left the field.”
HOW HAS THE
FIELD CHANGED?
“There are only a few health lawyers in Northeast Florida. When I moved to Jacksonville in 1985, there really wasn’t such a thing as a health lawyer. Health law and Medicare fraud have become more visible in the public eye and much more of a national priority. It is a field that was in a fairly dormant stage until the early 1980s. When prepaid health plans and managed care came into existence, a new era of health law developed.”
HER WORK HISTORY
While living in California, Whitney tried cases as a deputy district attorney. She moved to Florida when she was recruited to be the director of legal affairs for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, a post she held for a couple of years. After leaving Blue Cross, Whitney joined the law firm of Gallagher, Baumer, Mikals, Bradford, Cannon & Walters. They dissolved in 1989 and three of the partners joined Holland & Knight. Whitney practiced with Holland & Knight for several years after that before going out on her own.
WHY GO SOLO?
“My practice is so specialized that it works well as a sole practitioner. I don’t advertise to the public. I am available as a resource to attorneys and their health law or health care clients. Many, if not most, of my clients have other counsel, and I am called in as the health law specialist. Most of my clients don’t come in here [her home office]. They are from out-of-town or out-of-state.”
DETOUR
In her younger days, Whitney wrote news articles for public television in San Francisco. She has taught English to Spanish-speaking immigrants.
MEMBERSHIP HAS
ITS PRIVILEGES
In addition to her legal practice, Whitney has been designated as an arbitrator by the American Health Lawyers Association. She is the current chair of the Health Law section of The Florida Bar. Every year she teaches the Medicare/Medicaid section to lawyers who are looking for certification from the Florida Bar Association in the health law field. Whitney is also a member of the National Health Lawyers Association, the American Academy of Health Care Attorneys and the Florida Academy of Hospital Attorneys. She attends church at Saint Johns Episcopal Cathedral.
KEEPING IT IN THE FAMILY
Claude Moulton, Whitney’s husband, is also an attorney. The two met at Holland & Knight. He recently sold his title insurance company in Gainesville and plans to move to Jacksonville this month to practice real estate law.
WHERE DOES SHE LIVE?
“I bought this house in Springfield at the end of 1998 and have been shoveling money into it vigorously and wildly ever since.” Her three-story historic home doubles as her office and boasts an English garden.
HOBBIES
Whitney enjoys gardening, traveling, entertaining, knitting and reading.
— by Monica Chamness