Bill A. Dombi

Bill is senior counsel in the Healthcare practice and a member of the Home Health & Hospice and Post-Acute & Long-Term Care industry teams. As a titan in the home health and hospice field, Bill has 40 years of experience shaping healthcare law and policy and a keen understanding of how to help leaders of home health and hospice care providers solve their legal and operational challenges.

Bill is renowned for his commitment to advancing care at home through legal, legislative, and regulatory advocacy. His background spans all key advocacy forums, including Congress, regulatory bodies, and the courts, where he has engineered laws and regulations that directly impact home health and hospice providers. This breadth of experience enables him to offer clients with a practical framework for compliance standards and operational excellence.

Bill has led several associations in the home health and hospice industry, most recently serving as president and CEO of the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (“NAHC”), and concluding his tenure as president emeritus and counsel for the National Alliance for Care at Home. Prior, he served as the vice president for law at NAHC, executive director of the Center for Health Care Law, and executive director of the Home Care and Hospice Financial Managers Association at NAHC. In 1977, he co-founded the Legal Assistance to Medicare Patients, a project of Connecticut Legal Services, where he also served as co-director.

For over four decades, Bill has played a vital role in nearly every legislative and regulatory effort impacting the industry, including the expansion of the Medicare home health benefit, the formation of the hospice benefit, the institution of the Medicare PPS for home health, and the 2010 national healthcare reform legislation. He served as lead counsel in the landmark lawsuit that reformed the Medicare home health services benefit, challenges to HMO home care cutbacks for high-tech home care patients, and lawsuits against Medicaid programs for inadequate payment rates. Additionally, he litigated cases challenging the Medicare home health face-to-face encounter rule and the Department of Labor changes to the overtime rules under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Bill’s work has contributed to the evolution of home care from a cottage industry to a cornerstone of long-term care in the U.S., with Medicaid expenditures now exceeding $130 billion annually and Medicare home health services growing from $300 million to over $25 billion.

Clients value Bill’s consummate depth of knowledge, operational awareness, and unwavering respect for the mission of home care and hospice providers. He emphasizes proactive internal oversight and compliance reviews to help clients manage the surge in federal and state audits and quality-of-care reviews.

Bill is also a prolific author and speaker, having served as the lead author and editor of Home Care & Hospice Law: A Handbook for Executives. In addition, he has authored and co-authored dozens of articles in publications on various legal issues affecting home care and hospice providers and patients. His educational activities include keynote addresses and lectures in all 50 states, along with frequent lectures at American Health Law Association (“AHLA”) conferences.

Honored in the hall of fame of several home care and hospice organizations, Bill also continues to serve the industry through his roles on the board of directors for the Research Institute for Home Care and the Hospice and Home Care Foundation of North Carolina.