Health and aged care

Whether you are acquiring a facility, merging with another provider or divesting part of your operations, we advise on the transaction from start to finish. Our corporate and commercial team has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions and disposals, joint ventures, due diligence and the commercial agreements that sit around them. This includes working closely with boards, management and owners, from pharmacy businesses and medical and other primary care practices through to multi-site health and aged care groups. We structure the deal, test the risks and keep the transaction on track, with a clear understanding of the funding and regulatory pressures that shape deals in the health and aged care sector.

Health and aged care organisations operate under close scrutiny, and their boards carry significant responsibility. We advise directors, officers and senior management teams on their duties and obligations under the Corporations Act and the Aged Care Act, among other legislation. This includes specialist legal advice on directors’ duties for home care, disability support and not-for-profit providers.

Our health and aged care lawyers can deliver board and executive briefings, and prepare policies and procedures, to support compliance. For friendly societies, faith-based organisation and other not-for-profit and charitable providers, that includes the ACNC Governance Standards.

We help put practical governance frameworks in place to facilitate commercial decisions.

The right structure affects how you raise funds, manage risk and plan for the future. We advise on establishing and restructuring organisations, including companies, trusts and charitable entities, and on preparing and amending constitutions and other governing documents. Our team works with you to design a structure that suits your operations, your funding sources and your long-term plans.

This includes restructuring trusts and inter-entity arrangements, structuring for NDIS and disability support services, restructuring not-for-profit organisations, and advising on ownership structures for pharmacies and other primary care providers.

Funding and tax status can determine whether a service is viable. We help organisations obtain and maintain endorsements and registrations from the ACNC, the ATO and the Office of State Revenue, and advise on related tax issues, including GST and the availability of duty and payroll tax exemptions. This extends to advice on payroll tax for medical and dental practices. Our commercial, tax and structuring specialists look at the whole picture, so your structure and funding arrangements work together.

Health and aged care providers develop valuable brands, systems, clinical tools and data. We advise on protecting and managing this intellectual property, including trade mark registrations, licensing and confidentiality agreements, and the ownership of IP developed by employees and contractors.

Cooper Grace Ward’s corporate and commercial lawyers also advise on technology and software agreements, including cloud-based and hosted services, and work with patent attorneys where specialist input is needed.

We advise on the acquisition, development, leasing and disposal of hospitals, medical facilities and aged care portfolios, drawing on our property, planning and construction expertise. Our property team supports clients across the life of a property asset, from site acquisition and approvals to the commercial arrangements needed to operate and, when the time comes, dispose of it.

Our experience includes retirement living and land lease communities, manufactured home communities, and the titling and leasing of hospitals and clinics, including the effect of changing retirement living and land lease regulation.

Workforce issues are central to running a care or health business. Our workplace relations and safety team advises on the full spectrum of employment and industrial relations matters. That includes drafting and reviewing employment contracts and policies, strategic advice on bargaining, unions and right of entry, and managing misconduct and ill or injured employees. We also represent clients in contentious matters before courts, commissions and tribunals, including unfair dismissal, discrimination, adverse action and bullying claims. The experience of our lawyers includes advising on workforce arrangements for in-home care and disability support services, including award coverage and labour hire.

When something goes wrong, the response matters as much as the prevention. We advise on work health and safety compliance and obligations, and we act for clients in investigations and in prosecutions under work health and safety laws. Our workplace relations and safety team helps you respond to incidents promptly, protect your people and manage engagement with regulators.

Claims arising in health and aged care can be complex, high value and reputationally sensitive.

Our insurance team advises on and defends liability claims, including professional and public liability, product liability for medical devices and pharmaceuticals, and workers’ compensation issues for aged care facilities. We advise on policy coverage and indemnity questions, and on the investigation and response to suspected fraudulent claims, including in the NDIS and plan management context. We work alongside our corporate, workplace and disputes lawyers so that insurance issues are managed together with the commercial and regulatory risks.

Health and aged care providers hold some of the most sensitive personal information there is. Cooper Grace Ward advises on privacy and data protection obligations, including how information is collected, used, stored and shared, and how to prepare for and respond to a data breach. Our team can help you to keep pace with changes in Australian privacy law and manage the impacts for your organisation.

The sector is shaped by constantly changing state and national legislation and regulation. We help clients understand what the rules mean for their operations and keep up with reform. Our team understands the legislative and political landscape that affects the sector and the commercial and care pressures that come with it.

Our disputes team handles matters that are legally and factually complex and often business critical. Our experience includes corporate and regulatory litigation, professional liability cases, product liability claims, mediation and alternative dispute resolution, and investigations by statutory authorities and commissions of inquiry. We help clients through each stage, from early strategy to resolution, with practical and commercial advice. We also assist providers with complaint handling, terminating residential care agreements, tribunal applications (including in QCAT), and refundable accommodation deposit and accommodation payment issues.