'Meeting the Moment': O'melveny Resuscitates Hospitals

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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 2020

‘Meeting the moment’: O’Melveny resuscitates hospitals

By Steven Crighton Daily Journal Staff Writer

hen every hospital bed counts, the work being done by O’Melveny & W Myers LLP’s restructuring team could potentially save lives. As state governments scrambled last month to shore up their healthcare capacities in prepa- ration for the full force of COVID-19, Gov. Gavin Newsom turned to O’Melveny lawyers to help reopen St. Vincent Medical Center, a shut-down hospital in Los Angeles. He also asked for their help with the restoration of the MITCHELL WARREN Bay Area’s Seton Medical Center in Daly City. seemed to make all involved eager to reach magnitude can typically take months, but That call came on March 13, said Los An- terms promptly. our O’Melveny team worked with the state’s geles partner Steven Warren, and nearly a doz- “That’s one of the things that’s interesting team around the clock to find solutions in a en O’Melveny lawyers working with a state about this transaction. Usually, with something matter of days,” said David Deaton, chair of team were faced with the unprecedented task like that, you ask, ‘Okay. Are we going to have the firm’s Health Care Practice. of building the legal framework to bring the to fight to get this done?’” Mitchell said. With many other clients already concerned bankrupted hospitals back online. While the firm’s attorneys are no strangers about the longterm, Mitchell said much of Just a week later, they’d succeeded. The deal to legal fisticuffs, Mitchell said they found it her focus has turned towards contingency crafted and negotiated by an O’Melveny team wasn’t necessary. The restoration of the for- planning. With no lack of uncertainty and no was approved by a Los Angeles County Su- merly bankrupt hospitals operated by Cali- clear end in sight, that’s meant finding the best perior Court bankruptcy judge at a March 20 fornia non-profit Verity Health System gives shields to guard clients in the short term. emergency hearing. California an additional 500 hospital beds to “There’s not an immediate plug, so it’s “We had a very receptive counter-party,” be used to treat critically ill patients in a time about finding the dikes. It’s really interesting, said Warren. “And from the state’s perspective, of desperate need. and difficult, when we’re dealing with contin- it was interested in putting together a transac- “From the debtors to the creditors to the gency plans for about ten different scenarios,” tion that was commercially reasonable and got governor’s office and the health facilities, there Mitchell said. the hospitals online quickly.” was a commonality to achieve this,” Mitchell Warren said while most signs indicate a In other words, everyone involved was get- said. “I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen that in a decent shift back towards normalcy within ting a deal done and done fast. Warren said the transaction before. That was really heartening months, the impact created by large swaths of week preceding the final approval of the deal in a way. We had a really clear objective, and businesses throughout the economy generating was full of late-night and early-morning calls there wasn’t a commercial party involved that zero revenue will be felt for years to come. between the concerned parties. didn’t recognize the importance of that.” “That’s never happened before, I don’t think. “To use a phrase I learned from Governor O’Melveny’s interdisciplinary effort isn’t I’ve certainly never seen it,” Warren said. Newsom, O’Melveny ‘met the moment,’” said limited to resuscitating hospitals, and the re- Offering counsel amidst so much uncertainty firm partner Nancy Mitchell. structuring team is working in tandem with isn’t easy, Warren said. But as an attorney well A New York partner advising debtors, ac- other practices within the firm, including its versed in bankruptcies, he said it’s not hard to quirers and creditors on complex restructuring health care group, to help state agencies and picture a scenario where business comes back workouts and Chapter 11 proceedings, Mitch- private companies get answers and close deals. stronger and smarter than ever. ell said the rapid turnaround on the deal was Mitchell said attorneys have also been working “I think the impact over the next few years the result of efforts made by O’Melveny’s to answer questions and resolve issues related will accelerate trends in our society, trends that entire interdisciplinary team. She also gave a to payment patient formulas and the legalities are going to change business,” Warren said. nod to the unusualness of the times, acknowl- of medical set-up and staffing. edging the threat posed by the coronavirus “Addressing health care issues of this [email protected]