Husch Blackwell is pleased to announce the arrival of Dan Avants to the firm’s Healthcare team. Based in Chicago, Avants is a leading authority on the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) 340B drug pricing program, as well as healthcare facility development, including the hospital outpatient department (HOPD) conversion process. Avants joins the firm as senior counsel.
Avants comes to Husch Blackwell after 11 years with Advis, Inc. (formerly Murer Consultants, Inc.), where he served as vice president. During that time, Avants advised an impressive roster of healthcare provider clients in connection with a variety of legal and operational challenges, blending a business-centric approach to healthcare with regulatory considerations. He is regarded as a leader in the area of compliance with the HRSA 340B drug pricing program.
Early in his career, Avants assisted in establishing one of the earliest 340B audit processes, and clients have routinely turned to him for guidance with the 340B program. He has helped health systems save hundreds of millions of dollars through optimization and program redesign and has assisted clients with over 100 HRSA and drug manufacturer audits/inquiries.
He also has experience assisting clients with vendor and payor contract negotiations, provider-based conversion assessments and compliance, reimbursement strategies, mergers and acquisitions, and establishing value-based care models.
“This past decade has seen an amazing degree of change within the healthcare industry, and Dan has occupied a unique position to help clients tackle their most difficult legal, operational and cultural issues,” said Curt Chase, the head of Husch Blackwell’s Healthcare group. “His practical-minded approach to solving problems fits right in with our team, and we are very pleased that he decided to call Husch Blackwell home.”
Avants is the latest noted practitioner to join Husch Blackwell’s growing Healthcare team. Earlier this year, the Healthcare team announced a major expansion, adding 11 attorneys from Summit Health Law Partners, a boutique law firm focused on the healthcare industry. These arrivals prompted the firm to add office locations in Boston and Providence.
“I wanted to grow my career in private practice and to do so at a firm that is keeping pace with the transformation occurring within the healthcare industry,” said Avants. “Husch Blackwell provides my clients with scale and an ability to address practically every legal and operational issue they face. Crucially, the firm is also growing along with the industry, developing expertise in novel areas of treatment. Husch Blackwell has built a strong and agile platform, and I look forward to working with my new colleagues to help build on what they have started.”