Alice V. Harris is a partner in the Columbia office of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP. Ms. Harris has more than fifteen years of experience in the health care law field, and her practice includes concentrations in healthcare regulatory compliance, compliance program guidance, clinical research matters, response to federal and state audits and contractor requests, and related health care compliance litigation. Ms. Harris began assisting health care clients with compliance program issues in 1998 when the first compliance guidance for hospitals was issued by the OIG. Ms. Harris has advised clients on an external basis and recently served as in-house compliance counsel for a tertiary hospital system.

Ms. Harris assists clients with a variety of regulatory compliance issues, including assistance with compliance program issues, internal investigations, hospital and physician billing and coding analysis and investigations, and transaction-related regulatory analysis. Her experience includes work related to the review and structuring of clinical research related compliance systems and advisory work connected to clinical research related regulatory, reimbursement, and billing issues. Her compliance experience includes analysis and advice related to:

• Initial formation and re-structuring of compliance programs
• Restructuring of ongoing compliance programs and assessment of systemic problems related to ongoing compliance programs
• Clinical research related compliance systems and issues
• Routine compliance issues
• Coordination of ongoing coding reviews
• Potential whistleblower exposure
• Potential fraud & abuse matters
• Repayments and reporting to federal and state agencies
• Internal investigations from the initial analysis through interviews, retention of experts, preparation of corrective action plans, drafting of submissions, and meetings and communications with federal and state entities
• Defense of federal and state audits and contractor requests
• Potential exclusion matters

Ms. Harris’ health care litigation experience includes:

• Defending False Claims Act allegations and qui tam or "whistleblower" lawsuits
• Defense and appeal of Medicaid audits and alleged fraud issues
• Assistance with Certificate of Need litigation
• Assistance with a variety of other healthcare related litigation matters.

A member of the South Carolina Bar, Ms. Harris is a past Chairperson of the Bar’s Health Care Law Section. In 2005, Ms. Harris also served as co-director of South Carolina’s emergency preparedness seminar entitled Preparing Communities for Public Health Emergencies. She is a member of the Health Care Compliance Association, the American Health Lawyers Association, American Bar Association, the Richland County Bar Association, and the South Carolina Defense Trial Attorneys’ Association.

In 1993, Ms. Harris earned a Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the University of South Carolina School of Law where she was named to The Order of the Coif. During law school she received American Jurisprudence Awards in Securities and Regulation, and Business Corporations, and she was a member of the Order of Wig and Robe, the John Belton O’Neall Inn of Court, Phi Delta Phi, and the Student Bar Association. She was Articles Editor of the Real Property, Probate and Trust Journal. Ms. Harris earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts, cum laude, in 1982 from Valdosta State College.