Ms. Koehler is a partner at Whiteman Osterman & Hanna, where she has been an attorney since 1999. Her principal areas of practice are health care (with a particular focus on providers of health care), labor and employment law and education law.

Representative Accomplishments in Health Care

• Developed and administered HIPAA compliance and training programs for a rehabilitation hospital, a county municipal government, school districts and private employers;
• Advised hospitals, physician groups and other health care providers with respect to Medicare, Medicaid and HCFA compliance issues; fraud and abuse, anti-kickback and Stark law issues;
• Advised clients regarding physician credentialing and discipline issues;
• Developed corporate compliance programs, administrative policies and provided training on various operational and regulatory issues including HIPAA, DNR orders, living wills, health care proxies, informed consent, and patient authorizations; and
• Drafted and negotiated various agreements for health care providers including affiliation agreements, professional services agreements, employment agreements, joint venture agreements and memorandums of understanding, and managed care contacts.

Representative Accomplishments in Labor, Employment, and Education

• Advised school district on education law issues including residency of students, teacher certification, use of teacher aides and teacher’s assistants, homeless students, special education, student records, and teacher and student discipline;
• Conducted investigations and drafted reports regarding allegations of harassment, bullying, and inappropriate conduct by students and teachers;
• Conducted comprehensive review and amendment of school districts’ policies and procedures; and
• Conducted comprehensive review of employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act regarding exemptions from overtime pay.

Affiliations

Ms. Koehler is a current board member and past President of Vanderheyden Hall. She also currently serves as Vice President of the AIDS Council of Northeastern New York.

Education

Ms. Koehler earned her B.A. degree, cum laude, from the University of Vermont and her J.D. from Albany Law School, where she was an Articles Editor for the Albany Law Journal of Science and Technology.