Heather O. Berchem

Heather Berchem, a partner at Murtha Cullina, serves as Chair of the Firm's Regulatory Department, Long-Term Care Practice Group and a member of the Health Care and Information Security and Privacy Practice Groups.

Heather Berchem advises nursing homes, assisted living communities, CCRCs, hospitals, and home health care and hospice agencies on a wide range of regulatory, compliance, risk management and reimbursement issues.  Her practice includes assisting clients in both Connecticut and Massachusetts with licensure; certificates of need; changes of ownership; Medicare and Medicaid audits and appeals; informal dispute resolution and other survey and certification issues; HIPAA compliance; investigation and reporting of security breaches; contract and policy drafting and review; developing and implementing corporate compliance programs; and responding to subpoenas and investigations by federal and state agencies.

Heather serves as counsel to the Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities and the Connecticut Assisted Living Association. She serves on the American Health Care Association's National Legal Committee, is a contributing author of Fifty State Survey of Certificate of Need and Licensure: Nursing Homes, Assisted Living, Home Health, and Hospice and a co-author of the “Assisted Living Communities and Continuing Care Retirement Communities” chapter in The Post-Acute Care Handbook: Regulatory, Risk and Compliance Issues, both published by the American Health Lawyers Association.  Heather has lectured on a wide variety of long-term care and health care topics both at the state and national level.  She also served as a member of the Editorial Advisory Board for the American Health Lawyers Association's ("AHLA") LTC-SIR Advisor.  Heather is listed as a leading healthcare lawyer in Chambers USA, Chambers & Partners-Publishing (ChambersandPartners.com) and in Connecticut Super Lawyers®.

Heather received her B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley and her law degree from Boston University School of Law. Prior to joining Murtha Cullina in 1997, she was an associate at Schwartz, Shaw & Griffith in Boston, MA, where she handled health care criminal defense matters. Heather is admitted to practice in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

• Long-Term Care
• Health Care

• Connecticut Bar Association
• Massachusetts Bar Association
• American Health Lawyers Association
• Connecticut Health Lawyers Association
• Member, American Health Care Association's National Legal Committee
• Murtha Cullina Executive Committee, 2016 - 2020

• Listed as leading healthcare lawyer in Chambers USA, Chambers & Partners-Publishing (Chambers.com)
• Listed in The Best Lawyers in America® as 2021 Lawyer of the Year in the area of Health Care Law (Copyright 2020 by Woodward/White, Inc., Aiken, SC)
• Listed in The Best Lawyers in America® in the area of Health Care Law since 2017 (Copyright 2015 by Woodward/White, Inc., Aiken, SC)
• Holds an AV® Preeminent™ Peer Rating from Martindale-Hubbell
• Listed in Connecticut Super Lawyers® in the area of Health Care (Super Lawyers is a registered trademark of Key Professional Media, Inc.)
• James W. Cooper Life Fellow of the Connecticut Bar Foundation

• Quoted, Masonicare sees opportunity to reposition as pandemic continues to batter nursing home sector, Hartford Business Journal

• Contributing author of "Fifty State Survey of Certificate of Need and Licensure: Nursing Homes, Assisted Living, Home Health, and Hospice."  American Health Lawyers Association

• Co-author of the “Assisted Living Communities and Continuing Care Retirement Communities” chapter in "The Post-Acute Care Handbook: Regulatory, Risk and Compliance Issues." American Health Lawyers Association.

• August 19, 2021 - 40 Murtha Cullina Attorneys Receive “Best Lawyers in America” Recognition
• May 21, 2021 - Murtha Cullina LLP Recognized by Chambers USA
• August 20, 2020 - 48 Murtha Cullina Attorneys Receive “Best Lawyers in America” Recognition
• April 23, 2020 - Murtha Cullina LLP Recognized by Chambers USA
• October 30, 2019 - 37 Murtha Cullina LLP Attorneys Receive Super Lawyers Recognition
• August 15, 2019 - 33 Murtha Cullina Attorneys Receive “Best Lawyers in America” Recognition; Four Named “Lawyer of the Year”
• April 25, 2019 - Murtha Cullina LLP Recognized by Chambers USA
• August 15, 2018 - 32 Murtha Cullina Attorneys Receive “Best Lawyers in America” Recognition; Two Named Lawyer of the Year
• May 3, 2018 - Murtha Cullina LLP Recognized by Chambers USA
• March 1, 2018 - Seven Attorneys Named James W. Cooper Fellows of the Connecticut Bar Foundation
• October 18, 2017 - 38 Attorneys Receive Super Lawyers Recognition
• August 15, 2017 - 35 Murtha Cullina Attorneys Receive “Best Lawyers in America” Recognition; Three Named “Lawyer of the Year”
• May 26, 2017 - Murtha Cullina LLP Recognized by Chambers USA
• May 27, 2016 - Murtha Cullina Recognized by Chambers USA
• Murtha Cullina Partner Heather Berchem Appointed to AHCA Legal Committee
• Murtha Cullina Hosts "Women Expanding Business" Event

• June 16, 2021 - Health Care and Long-Term Care Groups News: OSHA Announces COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard for Healthcare Industry
• September 29, 2016 - Long-Term Care Group News: Nursing Home Mega Rule Finalized: Pre-Dispute Arbitration Agreements Not Permitted
• March 29, 2016 - Health Care and Long-Term Care Groups News: The HIPAA Phase 2 Audits Have Arrived
• Finally! Final Rule for the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA)
• Provider Beware: If You Find A Medicare Overpayment, Give It Back - Fast!
• OCR Rolls Out HIPAA Audit Program

• December 13, 2017 - Heather Berchem and Dena Castricone Presenting on Best Practices for the CT Association of Health Care Facilities
• May 3, 2017 - Heather Berchem to present “Top Changes from the Mega Rule” to the Massachusetts Chapter of the American College of Health Care Administrators
• November 17, 2016 - Heather O. Berchem and Dena M. Castricone to Co-Present on Nursing Home Regulations for the CT Association of Health Care Facilities
• June 9, 2016 - Heather Berchem to speak at Regulations Educational Session and Mini-Tradeshow, DCU Center in Worcester, MA
• September, October, November 2015 - Heather O. Berchem and Dena M. Castricone to present Best Practice Series to the Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities
• September, October, November 2014 - Heather O. Berchem and Dena M. Castricone to present Best Practice Series to the Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities
• Connecticut Assisted Living Association (CALA) Seminar
• Massachusetts Senior Care Association Seminar
• February 2014 - Heather O. Berchem and Dena M. Castricone to present Regulatory Hot Topics, Mass Senior Care
• May 2013 - Heather O. Berchem and Dena M. Castricone to present HIPAA for Nursing Homes to Massachusetts Senior Care Association
• 2013 - Heather O. Berchem and Dena Castricone to present Back to Basics to the Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities
• 2012 - Heather O. Berchem and Dena Castricone to present Back to Basics to the Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities
• CT-HFMA Legal Update - February 2011
• American Health Lawyers Association, February 2010
• American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, November 2009

• Connecticut
• Massachusetts
• Federal District Court, District of Massachusetts

• Boston University School of Law (J.D., 1994)
• University of California at Berkeley (B.A., 1991)