ALISSA D. FLEMING
As a critical care nurse, Alissa Fleming had an insider’s view of healthcare long before she began her subsequent career as an attorney. She now her nursing experience to understand and strategically address her clients’ most significant challenges.
“Seeing healthcare from the inside inspired me to find a way to better collaborate with healthcare providers to make a difference in operations and delivery,” she said.
Fleming, a shareholder at Baker Donelson, was among the first team of attorneys who helped launch the firm’s new Charleston office in 2022.
She sees changes in reimbursement, workforce issues including staffing and provider shortages and the increasing cost of delivering care as among the most critical issues the healthcare sector is facing.
Helping her clients and healthcare providers solve these problems and find creative solutions to optimize healthcare operations while minimizing regulatory risk make the hard work worthwhile.
“I value my clients and feel incredibly grateful to work with them on a daily basis,” she said.
Laura Evans was a pre-med student at UNC-Chapel Hill — until she came face to face with organic chemistry.
“That changed my mind very quickly,” she said. While the coursework deterred her from becoming a doctor, it didn’t dim her passion for healthcare.
“I started my legal career as a litigator, but the medicine kept drawing me back,” she said. “I went in-house at a hospital system and was sold on healthcare law.”
A role as director of legal services at Roper St. Francis Healthcare gave her a keen insight into a variety of corporate, operational, compliance, and risk management, which makes her a valuable resource for her clients at the Charleston office of Shumaker, where she is a partner and health care business sector chair.
“Working in-house has put me in my clients’ shoes, and I can offer a legal solution that is easily made operational,” said. “It is rewarding to give legal advice that is practical, efficient, and improves patient care.”
From helping providers with compliance systems to defending clients and helping them with licensing matters, Alice Harris enjoys smoothing the path for healthcare providers so they can focus on their patients.
Harris is a shareholder in the Columbia office of Maynard Nexsen, where she focuses on litigation, healthcare law and life sciences.
She got her start in the 1990s after her former partners, Stuart Andrews and Dan Westbrook, established one of the first healthcare practices at Nelson Mullins, where she practiced for over 26 years.
“I enjoyed working with institutional and individual providers, and learning about the laws and regulations governing federal healthcare programs,” she said.
Harris gives back to her community in a variety of ways, including serving on a committee to support the Columbia branch of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
“After losing my cousin to leukemia and having friends and colleagues who have suffered from loss related to blood cancers, I was motivated to help raise money individually and in support of Maynard Nexsen,” she said.
16 June 2023 | SOUTH CAROLINA LAWYERS WEEKLY HEALTHCARE
ALICE V. HARRIS SHAREHOLDER MAYNARD NEXSEN COLUMBIA
SHAREHOLDER BAKER DONELSON CHARLESTON
LAURA JOHNSON EVANS PARTNER SHUMAKER CHARLESTON
MATTHEW CHRISTIAN PARTNER CHRISTIAN & CHRISTIAN GREENVILLE
Kelly Jolley studied philosophy, English and pre-med courses at the University of South Carolina on her intended path to become a doctor, but a stint working as a researcher at the South Carolina Cancer Center sparked an interest in bioethics and consent agreements.
“I realized my mind is more practical than theoretical, so I switched to law school specifically to become a healthcare lawyer,” Jolley said. “I’ve been fortunate to be able to do exactly what I wanted to do.”
Today, she is widely regarded as a go-to source for medical professionals, businesses and nonprofits facing a variety of challenges, primarily financial stressors.
“Healthcare is expensive, both in delivery and in treatment,” she said. “Workforce scarcity, supply chain delays, and technology-enabled remote care are all issues of concern for my clients.”
“I think of my team and myself as a pit crew whose job is to help providers get back on track as quickly and efficiently as possible,” she said.
Charles Jordan grew up in Florence immersed in healthcare, watching his father, a pediatrician, care for his clients at his practice and at the local hospital.
He became interested in healthcare when he found himself immersed in healthcare contractual, transactional, and regulatory work during a summer clerkship.
Jordan, a partner at Moore & Van Allen in Charleston, views the growing costs and complexity of operating a healthcare organization as an ongoing problem for smaller players, in-cluding nonprofits, making it hard for them to survive.
“From early in my career I focused my practice primarily on nonprofit entities,” he said. “I was drawn to their charitable missions.”
After high school, Jordan put college on hold when he and a friend bought a one-way ticket to Australia, where they taught tennis at a local racquet club for three months.
“Our adventures there and the great friends we made continue to be one of the greatest experiences of my life,” he said.
Phillip Mullinnix didn’t follow his intended path into the law, but his ultimate destination has provided both challenges and rewards he could not have foreseen.
Initially, Mullinnix was on a course to corporate law, but discovered that through healthcare law, “I am making an impact on their ability to provide care to the community at large and potentially to my own family and friends,” he said.
He notes a key healthcare issue of the day involves the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ transition from the fee-for-service payment model to a value-based care model that rewards results, including cost, quality of care, and patient outcomes.
“As a result of this transition, healthcare providers are working diligently to understand and implement changes that comply with this transition,” said Mullinnix, who also participates in his firm’s pro bono program by working on guardianship cases and assisting various healthcare nonprofits with legal assistance.
Clark Price credits his mentor, the late Bill Hagood, with inspiring his love of healthcare law when they practiced together at Love, Thornton, Arnold & Thomason.
“Billy was a great trial lawyer and always well prepared,” Price said. “He approached his cases with empathy and kindness, and I aspire to practice like he did.”
Price is a member at Cassidy Coates Price in Greenville, where he focuses on medical negligence defense. He is also a certified mediator for civil cases, and in 2020 was named as a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers. He is also a past president of the Greenville County Bar Association.
Price says one of the most rewarding aspects of his practice is supporting medical providers.
“The COVID pandemic showcased the heroes who cared for the sick in the most trying times,” he said. “I am lucky and honored to have the opportunity to represent them when they need help.”
SOUTH CAROLINA LAWYERS WEEKLY | June 2023 17 HEALTHCARE
CLARK PRICE PARTNER CASSIDY COATES PRICE GREENVILLE
CHARLES M. JORDAN JR. MEMBER MOORE & VAN ALLEN CHARLESTON
PHILLIP MULLINNIX PARTNER NELSON MULLINS RILEY & SCARBOROUGH CHARLESTON
KELLY JOLLEY MANAGING ATTORNEY JOLLEY LAW GROUP COLUMBIA
Will Thomas started his career in hospital administration at the MUSC Medical Center, and with that job came the opportunity to get a Master of Health Administration degree.
Along the way, Thomas discovered the law.
The master’s program required a class in healthcare law, featuring MUSC general counsel Joe Good. Thomas recalls Good as an engaging presenter who would often “regale the class with stories of his legal exploits.”
Thomas also worked with attorneys who were structuring an affiliation between the medical center and a for-profit healthcare company.
“I was interested in that work,” he said. “One thing led to another and the next thing I knew, I was in law school.”
As a partner at Parker Poe in Columbia, Thomas handles litigation as well as transactional and regulatory matters.
“The greatest reward is the ability to use my education, training, and experience to help providers find solutions to their legal problems, especially when those problems are complex,” he said.
MATTHEW P. UTECHT
Matt Utecht credits a former colleague with leading him into the world of healthcare law.
“I had been a litigator defending medical malpractice cases for about 13 years when our firm’s managing shareholder, Joe Blake, approached me about transitioning to the transactional and regulatory side of healthcare law,” Utecht said. “I knew I had the best in the business to learn under, so I took the leap.”
Utecht serves on the Healthcare Committee for the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce and was a member of Leadership Greenville XXVIII. He points to the rise of artificial intelligence as a catalyst for change in the healthcare sector.
And he is grateful to work with his exceptional clientele. “As a healthcare lawyer, I get to work with some of the smartest people I’ve ever met,” Utecht said. “It is an honor to play a small part in helping them achieve their strategic goals and contribute to improving the delivery of care to patients.”
As founder and manager of The Thomerson Law Firm in Greenville, Michael Thomerson represents clients in the healthcare field in South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee, while managing litigation and local counsel throughout the country.
For over 25 years, Thomerson has managed and handled litigation matters related to Stark and Anti-Kickback compliance for hospital systems and healthcare providers. He primarily represents and advises health care providers, lenders, landlords, and businesses in the field.
He also anticipates and responds to concerns regarding privacy and confidentiality of individual health information and increasing regulation at both the federal and state levels with experience handling compliance matters that involve HIPAA and HITECH privacy and security compliance, including resolving disputes and developing uniquely tailored privacy and security policies.
In addition to his extensive background in health law, Thomerson has more than three decades of experience representing clients in the areas of creditor’s rights, bankruptcy and landlord-tenant law
