Alston & Bird Expands Health Care Practice

WASHINGTON, D.C., MARCH 10, 2014 – Alston & Bird today announced that David Abernethy, former staff director of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health and long-time executive of EmblemHealth, and Colin Roskey, a former health policy advisor and counsel to the Senate Finance Committee, joined the firm’s Health Care Group.  Both will work out of Alston & Bird’s Washington, D.C. office.

Alston and Bird has Washington’s broadest team of health policy lawyers and advisors, including Senator Bob Dole, the former Majority Leader who was the longest-serving Republican Senate Leader in the history of the United States and Earl Pomeroy, a nine term member of Congress and senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee.  Alston & Bird’s Health Care Group already includes an experienced group of former congressional staff and Administration experts, including Tom Scully, a former Administrator of CMS and multiple senior staff from both the House and Senate committees, as well as FDA and CMS.

Abernethy spent 17 years with EmblemHealth, after working from 1987 to 1996 for House Ways and Means in a variety of positions including Staff Director of the Subcommittee on Health, where he helped craft dozens of major pieces of health legislation.  Colin Roskey, after working from 2001 to 2004 for the Senate Finance Committee as health policy advisor and counsel, spent nine years with Alston and Bird before moving to another firm a year ago.  In the Senate, Roskey was a key player in all major health legislation including Medicare Part D and Medicare Advantage. 

“Washington policy and politics seem to be dominated by health care and we are proud to have the deepest and largest health practice in Washington,” said Alston & Bird Managing Partner Richard Hays. “We are excited to have Colin back in the fold and he, along with David, will make our team even stronger.”

“Colin helped start the health policy practice at Alston ten years ago and we are thrilled to have him back on the team,” noted senior counsel Tom Scully, “and nobody is smarter on health or more beloved by their clients than Colin.”  Scully added, “David was the guru of democratic health care through much of the 1980’s and 1990’s and recruited and trained scores of democratic Congressional staff.  He is one of the true legislative giants of Washington health policy… and a very old friend.  We are delighted to have David and Colin join our team.”

About David Abernethy

David Abernethy is a senior policy advisor in the firm’s Health Care Group.  Abernethy is the former senior vice president of EmblemHealth, the parent company of HIP Health Plan of New York, Group Health Incorporated and ConnectiCare.  Prior to joining EmblemHealth, he worked for the House Ways and Means Committee in a variety of positions, including staff director of the Subcommittee on Health.  As such, he was the Committee’s principal staff person for Medicare and health reform, and was involved in dozens of major pieces of health legislation over more than a decade. 

Before Ways and Means, Abernethy was deputy commissioner of health for planning, policy and resource development for the New York State Department of Health.  He also is the former president of the American Health Planning Association (AHPA).  Abernethy earned an M.P.H. in health services administration from Yale University and a B.A. in history, cum laude, from Claremont Men's College.

About Colin Roskey

Colin Roskey is a partner in the firm’s Health Care Group.  Roskey practiced with Alston and Bird from 2004 to 2013 before moving to another firm for a year.  As health policy advisor and counsel to the Senate Finance Committee from 2001 to 2004, Roskey crafted many major legislative and regulatory proposals for Chairman Charles E. Grassley of Iowa.  He was essentially involved in the development of Medicare Advantage, Medicare Part D, Medicare contractor reform and virtually every other Medicare legislative proposal created in the early 2000s.  Roskey has extensive expertise in crafting legislative and regulatory solutions for clients, and regularly provides counsel on Congressional oversight and Agency investigation activity.

Roskey is a member of the Health Care Compliance Association and the American Health Lawyers Association.  He obtained his bachelor’s degree from University of Massachusetts in 1995 and his J.D. from American University in 1998.

About Alston & Bird

With more than 800 attorneys, Alston & Bird is a leading national AmLaw 50 firm.  The firm’s core practice areas are intellectual property, complex litigation, corporate and tax, with national industry focuses that include financial services, technology, health care, manufacturing, life sciences and energy.  The firm has built a reputation as one of the country’s best employers, appearing on FORTUNE magazine’s ranking of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” 15 consecutive years, an unprecedented accomplishment among law firms in the United States.  The firm has offices in Atlanta, Brussels, Charlotte, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Research Triangle, Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C.

For more information on Alston & Bird, please visit www.alston.com.