Zachary (Zach) Buxton joined University of Iowa Health Care as Deputy Counsel in April 2021. Zach regularly advises on health care regulatory and transactional issues, including fraud and abuse (the Physician Self-Referral Law, anti-kickback statute, Civil Monetary Penalties Law), data privacy and security, HIPAA compliance, governance issues, general contracting and negotiation, and practice and entity acquisitions. Zach also regularly advises on the laws and regulations that pertain to the day-to-day operation of an academic medical center delivering tertiary and quaternary care, including issues pertaining to informed consent, guardianships, involuntary commitments, access to records, etc.

Prior to joining University of Iowa Health Care, Zach worked at a regional Midwest law firm regularly advising hospitals, physicians, physician clinics, skilled nursing facilities, nursing facilities, and specialty health care services providers in regulatory and transactional issues. In that role, Zach advised clients on 340B; the nondiscrimination provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) (Section 1557); the hospital price transparency regulations; the fraud and abuse laws, including the Physician Self-Referral Law, the anti-kickback statute, the Civil Monetary Penalties Law, the False Claims Act, and similar state laws; Medicare and Medicaid compliance, regulatory, and billing issues; appeals of post-payment payer audits of provider services, including Medicare, Medicaid, Medicaid Managed Care, and commercial/private payers; Medicare regulatory and payment issues; Medicaid and Medicaid Managed Care regulatory and payment issues; board governance issues; reviews of corporate documents, including articles of incorporation and corporate bylaws and related issues; reviews of medical staff bylaws and rules & regulations; reviews of corporate compliance programs and assistance with day-to-day compliance issues; and negotiating agreements on behalf of individual practitioners, including physicians (MDs, DOs, DPMs), physician assistants, and nurse practitioners (ARNPs, APRNs, etc.).

Zach earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Northern Iowa, a Juris Doctorate from the Saint Louis University School of Law with a certificate of health law, and his Master of Health Administration, with distinction, from the Saint Louis University College for Public Health and Social Justice. Zach is an Iowa City native and lives in Iowa City with his significant other and two daughters.