Operators of inpatient care providers and service providers

We advise and represent hospital operators and the operators of nursing facilities in all legal, tax and economic matters. We take care of in-court and out-of-court settlements with providers and enforce claims in legal proceedings in all jurisdictions and before all arbitration bodies.

We advise on and prepare tax declarations for hospital operators and have expertise in hospital and Group-specific special tax matters as well as special rights for non-profit and public institutions and the supervision of complex tax audits and legal remedy proceedings, tax-related structural advice and transaction supervision, as well as the introduction of tax compliance management systems (TCMS).

We audit annual financial statements in accordance with all standards and for all operators through to university hospitals, including certifications under hospital laws for the use of grants. In addition, we can also provide a variety of special audits and audits of separate and transparency accounts on request.

Our legal expertise covers laws relating to hospital planning and financing, chief physician contracts, cooperations with service providers, including at the outpatient interface.

Our nursing facility competence encompasses social law issues and special regulatory law with its different care home specifications depending on the federal state. A key focus is our expertise concerning care home real estate. 

Our approach

For each project, we select the specialists with the relevant legal, regulatory, tax law and economic expertise to be able to provide you with effective, tailored and legally compliant services and solutions.

Our teams and your contact persons are experienced in their sectors thanks to a wealth of consulting and advisory projects already successfully completed. For international issues, we are supported by our international partners at the Forvis Mazars Group and the lawyers of Marcalliance.

In addition, we also have access to an excellent network of cooperation partners and contacts with the relevant authorities and self-management committees, such as associations of statutory health insurance physicians (Kassenärztliche Vereinigungen), admissions committees (Zulassungsausschüsse) and medical associations.

Our services

Audit & assurance

• We audit annual financial statements in accordance with all standards – from the German Commercial Code (HGB) to the German regulation on hospital accountancy (KHBV) and the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) – and for all hospital and nursing facility operators. We offer specialist expertise in relation to university hospitals, for example in the auditing of certifications under hospital laws for the use of grants.
• Our services also include audits in accordance with Section 53 of the German law on budgetary procedures (HGrG), audits of compliance management systems in accordance with PS 980 auditing standard, audits of subsidies in accordance with EU law (IDW PS 700), audits of special purpose financial statements and financial information relating to past events in accordance with IDW PS 480 and PS 490.
• We can also perform special audits and audits of separate and transparency accounts if required.

Contacts Audit & assurance

Financial advisory

• Depending on the specific valuation background and occasion, we carry out valuations of companies and company shares, and also individual assets such as intangible assets or real estate, in accordance with the relevant principles for auditors. We also prepare opinions on the financial fairness of transaction prices (known as fairness opinions).
• In the context of transactions, we provide assistance by carrying out financial due diligence and other transaction-related advisory services in order to analyse the opportunities and risks of investment projects. In addition, we compile vendor due diligence reports in order to efficiently prepare upcoming divestiture processes.
• We also prepare restructuring reports in accordance with IDW S6, check for the existence of reasons for opening insolvency proceedings (IDW S11) and prepare liquidity forecasts or integrated financial planning. Furthermore, we advise and provide support during reporting processes and the ongoing monitoring of the implementation of restructuring measures.

Contacts Financial advisory

Legal advice

• Our team possesses expertise in hospital law, hospital planning law, hospital financing law, funding and subsidies, state aid law and public procurement law, and in advising on and drafting contracts.
• We advise and assist with contracts under employment law (such as contracts for chief physicians, consultant physicians, attending physicians and fee-based physicians), in negotiations and disputes with providers and administrative authorities. We also offer advice and contractual support in connection with association activities (statutes, codes of conduct, legal expertise).
• Our support covers: The reorganisation and restructuring of facilities, design of hospital cooperations and holding models, cooperations with other service providers and the use of new providers of healthcare.
• We advise hospital operators on contract management, anti-corruption, cooperation between medical service providers and with medical device and pharmaceuticals manufacturers and other business enterprises. We have experience in risk management, the conception, implementation as well as auditing and evaluation of compliance management systems and in advising on the laws governing the healthcare professions as well as on competition law (German law against unfair competition [UWG], German law on pharmaceuticals advertising [HWG]).
• In addition, we also provide support during acquisition and sales processes with regard to planned hospitals and private clinics. We boast experience stretching back decades in the structuring of transactions from a legal and tax perspective, conducting financial/HR/legal/tax due diligence, valuation and contract drafting. We know our way around privatisation procedures, public procurement and antitrust law, employment law advice, transfers of undertakings, supplementary benefits issues, in/outsourcing projects, post-merger integration and advising strategic investors and capital investors in the hospital sector.
• Our expert advice regarding hospital and care home real estate transactions takes all relevant fields of law into account. If required, we can draw on the assistance of experts in real estate law, laws governing care homes, regulatory law and employment law. These include legal due diligence and the drafting of purchase and lease agreements (including sale and leaseback agreements).
• We advise hospital operators on the implementation of digitalisation and sourcing strategies, especially in connection with the German law on a future-oriented programme for hospitals (Krankenhauszukunftsgesetz – KHZG).
• Our broad range of knowledge and expertise covers salary law, long-term care insurance law and the laws governing care homes, as well as in advising and assisting with contracts, in negotiations and disputes with providers and administrative authorities.
• We represent our clients in industrial, social, administrative and civil court proceedings (licensing and hospital planning law, economic viability audits, fee disputes, remuneration disputes, liability for medical malpractice, liability for medical devices, reimbursement law, regulatory law governing care homes, proceedings before the professional conduct courts and admissions committees).

Contacts Legal advice

Tax advice

• We advise on and prepare the tax declarations for hospital operators and operators of nursing facilities and their subsidiaries in all legal forms and sizes in public, private and non-profit ownership, and taking into account provisions related to social insurance, subsidies and, if applicable, municipal law.
• We possess expertise in hospital and Group-specific special tax matters as well as special rights for non-profit and public institutions, in complex tax audits and legal remedy proceedings, in tax-related structural advice and transaction supervision and in the introduction of tax compliance management systems (TCMS).
• We are experts in reviewing and drafting contracts under tax law for third-party or publicly funded research projects, such as fundamental research, contract research, application observations, investigator-initiated trials (IITs), licensing agreements, collaborations, forwarding of grants, subsidies, donations and sponsorships.
• For many years, we have been actively involved in the tax-related audit and structure of transactions for care home real estate and care home operators.

Contacts Tax advice

Thanks to our wealth of experience advising operators of hospitals and nursing facilities all over the country, we can provide you with exactly the right support and assistance you require.