Lauren R. Nunez

Partner

Overview

Lauren R. Nunez is a partner in Crowell & Moring’s Washington, D.C. office, where she is a member of the firm’s Health Care Group. Her practice covers a wide range of litigation and counseling engagements, including representing leading managed care organizations, health benefit plans, health care providers, government contractors, and various other corporate commercial litigants. Lauren litigates complex matters in federal, state, and arbitral forums, with a particular focus on commercial health care disputes, class actions, civil antitrust, and False Claims Act suits. Lauren’s antitrust experience includes mergers and acquisitions and civil antitrust cases. She has represented clients in investigations before the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Labor, and various state enforcement agencies.

Lauren maintains an active pro bono practice in which she litigates education access cases on behalf of parents of children with special needs and practices complex appellate litigation under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

Prior to joining Crowell & Moring, Lauren worked as an associate at a firm in Boston, where she practiced in complex commercial litigation and health care fraud investigations. Before that, Lauren interned for the Honorable Ojetta Rogeriee Thompson on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and the Honorable William Q. Hayes on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California in San Diego.

During law school, Lauren was the executive notes editor of the Notre Dame Law Review

Career & Education

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    • University of Notre Dame Law School, J.D., summa cum laude, 2013
    • Providence College, B.A., summa cum laude, 2010
    • University of Notre Dame Law School, J.D., summa cum laude, 2013
    • Providence College, B.A., summa cum laude, 2010
    • District of Columbia
    • Massachusetts
    • U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts
    • District of Columbia
    • Massachusetts
    • U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts
  • Professional Activities and Memberships

    • American Health Lawyers Association

    Professional Activities and Memberships

    • American Health Lawyers Association

Lauren's Insights

Client Alert | 12 min read | 09.13.24

Tri-Agencies Finalize NQTL Comparative Analysis Standards in Final Rule

On Monday, September 8, 2024, the United States Department of the Treasury, Department of Labor, and Department of Health and Human Services (collectively, the “Tri-Agencies”) issued a final rule (“the Final Rule”) implementing new regulations applicable to nonquantitative treatment limitations (“NQTLs”) under the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (“MHPAEA”). The Final Rule codifies many of the requirements set forth in the (the “Proposed Rule”), while pulling back on some of the Tri-Agencies’ more controversial proposals. ...

Representative Matters

  • Trying case behalf of leading health services company to defense verdict in $150 million action involving fraud and breach of contract claims related to the design, build, and operation of a health plan.
  • Defending managed behavioral health care organization in response to a joint state and federal investigation of compliance with the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act for both fully-insured and self-funded plans. 
  • Representing a health system in an FTC investigation. 
  • Representing multiple health plans in complex commercial disputes with pharmacy benefit managers and retail pharmacies regarding pharmaceutical reimbursement. 
  • Defending leading health plan in multiple class actions in federal court concerning compliance with the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act.
  • Defending a large health insurer in multiple arbitration proceedings across the nation involving a Medicare Advantage dispute.
  • Representing a Medicaid managed care organization in complex litigation with a state concerning actuarial soundness of capitation rates, government contracting, and related performance and transition of care issues.
  • Defending a leading health plan in arbitration against a major hospital system in Florida regarding payment of behavioral health claims.

Lauren's Insights

Client Alert | 12 min read | 09.13.24

Tri-Agencies Finalize NQTL Comparative Analysis Standards in Final Rule

On Monday, September 8, 2024, the United States Department of the Treasury, Department of Labor, and Department of Health and Human Services (collectively, the “Tri-Agencies”) issued a final rule (“the Final Rule”) implementing new regulations applicable to nonquantitative treatment limitations (“NQTLs”) under the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (“MHPAEA”). The Final Rule codifies many of the requirements set forth in the (the “Proposed Rule”), while pulling back on some of the Tri-Agencies’ more controversial proposals. ...

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Lauren's Insights

Client Alert | 12 min read | 09.13.24

Tri-Agencies Finalize NQTL Comparative Analysis Standards in Final Rule

On Monday, September 8, 2024, the United States Department of the Treasury, Department of Labor, and Department of Health and Human Services (collectively, the “Tri-Agencies”) issued a final rule (“the Final Rule”) implementing new regulations applicable to nonquantitative treatment limitations (“NQTLs”) under the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (“MHPAEA”). The Final Rule codifies many of the requirements set forth in the (the “Proposed Rule”), while pulling back on some of the Tri-Agencies’ more controversial proposals. ...