What's Next in Health Care? Challenges for Providers and Opportunities for Restructuring Professionals in an Ever-Changing Landscape

Hon. J. Craig Whitley is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Western District of North Carolina in Charlotte, appointed in 1994.

Prior to his appointment, Judge Whitley practiced almost exclusively in the bankruptcy area representing debtors, creditors and trustees. He also served as a chapter 7 trustee in the Western District of North Carolina.

Judge Whitley received his B.A. from Davidson College in 1981 and his J.D. from Wake Forest University School of Law in 1984.

David counsels on business bankruptcies and insolvencies with a distinct focus on healthcare industry restructuring. David has a wide breadth of experience representing REITs, hospitals, lenders, landlords, healthcare systems, skilled nursing and assisted living facilities, purchasers of distressed assets, secured and unsecured creditors, committees, and other parties-in-interest in Chapter 11 reorganization proceedings, receiverships, and workouts throughout the United States.

His extensive experience in non-bankruptcy transactional and litigation in both state and federal courts allows him to understand all sides of the law. He routinely represents lenders in all areas of creditors’ rights litigation. David’s transactional experience includes representing purchasers in 363 sales and representing various parties in problem loan workouts, bridge loans and other financings, forbearance agreements, and other distressed transactions.

Prior to joining Polsinelli, David taught as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Emory University School of Law for over seven years.

T. Mills Fleming chairs HunterMaclean’s health care practice group in Savannah, Ga. His practice concentrates on the general representation of health care systems, specialized regulatory support to health care entities, and specialized projects involving compliance planning, distressed hospital bankruptcy workouts, physician contracting, qui tam/FCA investigations, health care industry restructuring, physician contracting, tax-exempt entities and intermediate sanctions, reimbursement, fraud and abuse, managed care, and health care policy. He also assists clients with compliance self-assessments and remedial actions, hospital board governance, Stark Law compliance assessments, and the development of multi-provider joint ventures.

Mr. Fleming is a past president of the Georgia Academy of Healthcare Attorneys and a member of the American Health Lawyers Association, as well as the Health Law Section of the State Bar of Georgia. He is widely published in a number of health carerelated journals and speaks regularly on related topics.

In 2016, the State Bar of Georgia and the Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism awarded Mr. Fleming with the Justice Robert Benham Award for Community Service. He has received additional recognition by Chambers USA, The Best Lawyers in America and Georgia Trend Magazine’s “Legal Elite,” and he is AV-Rated bu Martindale- Hubble.

Mr. Fleming received both his undergraduate degree and J.D. from the University of Florida.

J. Patrick Darby is executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of HealthSouth Corp. in Birmingham, Ala. Before joining HealthSouth in 2016, he was a bankruptcy lawyer at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings and an adjunct professor at the Cumberland School of Law. He has represented debtors in chapters 11 and 9 and out-of-court restructurings, and secured lenders, bondholders, construction companies, buyers of distressed assets, trade vendors and preference/fraudulent-transfer defendants. Mr. Darby’s significant health care cases include filing two chapter 11s for Carraway Methodist Hospital, restructuring Cooper Green Mercy Hospital in the Jefferson County chapter 9 case, representing the buyers of hospitals and other health care properties in several chapter 11 and chapter 9 cases, and representing debtors and lenders in various assisted living, skilled nursing facility and other health care cases. He also was part of the defense team in the AseraCare False Claims Act case.

Mr. Darby is a Fellow in the American College of Bankruptcy. While in practice, he was listed in Chambers USA, The Best Lawyers in America and Alabama Super Lawyers. Mr. Darby received his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College and his J.D. magna cum laude from Washington & Lee School of Law, where he was editor in chief of its law review. He subsequently clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.