Eric Chan, Appellate Attorney in San Francisco, California

Eric Chan is a technology enthusiast and trial lawyer who represents clients in complex litigation and arbitration on behalf of providers. He has deep experience representing healthcare providers in managed care disputes, having recovered tens of millions of dollars in underpayments and nonpayments on behalf of providers. He also defends providers in high-stakes disagreements with their health information technology (HIT) vendors.

Eric writes and speaks on a variety of issues relating to surprise billing, price transparency, the Employment Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the Affordable Care Act. He has first- chaired jury trials to verdict and has argued several cases before the California courts of appeal and the Ninth Circuit. Eric’s practice also reflects a high degree of proficiency with technology. He has particular expertise in the areas of electronic health records (EHR) and large-scale electronic discovery.

Prior to joining Athene Law, Eric was a partner in the litigation department of a national health care law firm, where he served as co-chair of the Recruiting Committee and co-chair of the Diversity & Inclusion Committee. Eric also previously worked for four years at an AmLaw 100 firm, where his practice focused on patent litigation and class action defense.

From 2014 through 2020, Eric has been honored as an annual Super Lawyers® Southern California Rising Star. He also was recognized in 2019 as a Law360 Rising Star.

Representative Matters

• Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital v. Anthem, Inc. et al., 829 Fed. Appx. 156 (9th Cir. Oct. 2, 2020) – obtained affirmance on appeal of judgment against Anthem and a self-funded benefit plan for directing benefit checks to the patient following emergency care rendered by an out-of-network hospital, in violation of ERISA. The district court below, 2008 WL 3830009 (C.D. Cal. July 5, 2018), had ordered the defendants to pay the hospital even though over $700,000 worth of checks had already been deposited by the patients.

• Plum v. MatrixCare, Inc. (San Diego Superior Court, 2019) – obtained temporary restraining order against EHR vendor who shut off access to crucial data feed needed to ensure quality control and health & safety of patients. The matter ultimately settled.

• Applied General Agency v. Chinese Community Health Plan, 2019 WL 949258 (California Court of Appeal, Fourth District, February 27, 2019 (unpub.)) – obtained affirmance of ruling denying request for millions of dollars in attorney’s fees sought by plaintiff.

• Applied General Agency v. Chinese Community Health Plan (Orange County Superior Court, 2017) – successfully defended provider-owned community health plan in three-week jury trial against breach of contract claims. The jury awarded just one-sixth of the damages sought by the plaintiff and effectively cut off plaintiff’s right to seek future commissions.

• Downey Surgical Clinic, Inc. v. Optuminsight, Inc., 2016 WL 5938722 (C.D. Cal., settled 2016) - Represented class of ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) against United Healthcare, Ingenix (now Optum), and numerous self-funded ERISA health benefit plans regarding out-of-network payments. Reached class settlement for $9.5 million for the benefit of California ASCs affected by defendants' low-payment practices.

• Successfully defended academic health system against $50 million arbitration demand brought by national EHR vendor for breach of contract relating to software licensing and managed IT services. (AAA Arbitration, 2015.)

• Successfully obtained hardship exceptions from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for both Eligible Hospitals (EHs) and Eligible Professionals (EPs), thus avoiding millions of dollars in penalties under the Promoting Interoperability (formerly Meaningful Use) program and under the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS).

Recent Publications

• Another Kind of Medical Shock, Los Angeles Lawyer Magazine, April 2020

• Beyond ERISA Assignments of Benefits: A New Path for Healthcare Providers as Authorized Representatives that Leaves Patients Out of the Dispute, California Health Law News, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 2, Fall 2019

Recent Speaking Engagements

• Looking Back and Looking Ahead — What’s in Store for the Rest of 2019 (October 8, 2019) Wolters-Kluwer Webinar (price transparency)

• ERISA: An Introduction (March 26, 2018) Healthcare Financial Management Association, Northern California Chapter Spring Conference

• Nobody Knew Healthcare Could Be So Complicated (May 18, 2017) Los Angeles County Bar Association, Healthcare Law Section

• ERISA and Managed Care (March 15, 2017) Southwestern Law School, Health Law Seminar

Education

Eric received his B.S. degree in Cybernetics, summa cum laude, from University of California at Los Angeles. He received his J.D. degree from Stanford University, where he was Co-Editor-In-Chief of Stanford Technology Law Review and a Student Fellow in the Stanford Cyberlaw Clinic. After graduation, he clerked for the Hon. Mariana R. Pfaelzer of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Professional Affiliations

• National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), Co-chair, Health Law Committee

• American Bar Association, Health Law Section, member

• California Society for Healthcare Attorneys, member

• Healthcare Financial Management Association, member

• Judge Paul R. Michel Intellectual Property American Inn of Court (2007-2013), Member

• Los Angeles County Bar Association, Member, Healthcare Section and Diversity in the Profession Committee

• Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association (SCCLA), Lifetime Member