Felicia Sze

Personal Introduction

Felicia Y Sze is a respected leader in healthcare and health policy in California. She serves as a trusted advisor to boards and C-suite executives to healthcare providers to identify solutions to challenging and high-profile issues. She founded Athene Law, LLP with a vision for the firm to partner with its clients to support their mission in ensuring the provision of healthcare services to Californians. Ms. Sze is a nationally-recognized expert in Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement matters, focusing on both the managed care and fee-for-service delivery systems. She advises healthcare providers, including hospitals, clinics, physicians, pharmacies, and others, on a wide array of compliance and reimbursement matters and in disputes with managed care entities and government payors. She is a fearless advocate for her clients in their defense against both private and governmental audits and in pursuing underpayments. Ms. Sze also regularly counsels providers on complex billing and compliance issues. Ms. Sze has led public policy initiatives to expand access to healthcare services through innovative Medicaid financing and reimbursement reforms. She has worked directly on bringing in billions of new Medicaid dollars annually to California and other states through provider fee and other funding mechanisms. She has partnered with hospital leaders to reform the Medicare dependent hospital program to bring hundreds of millions of dollars of Medicare reimbursement to uniquely positioned rural hospitals. She regularly reviews, revises and negotiates managed care contracts with a focus on alternative payment models. In the increasingly complex environment of risk sharing and joint ventures, Ms. Sze provides guidance to providers as to how the structure of contractual relationships may affect their operations and finances. She also guides clients in the complex labyrinth of behavioral health reimbursement, focusing on Medi-Cal specialty mental health services. Ms. Sze serves as the outside general counsel for several providers and healthcare provider trade associations. In this role, she routinely advises healthcare leaders about important changes in health policy and how to pursue strategic industry goals. Ms. Sze serves as Athene’s CEO/Managing Partner. Athene Law, LLP is certified as a minority-owned business, and is a majority woman-owned business. Athene Law, LLP has embraced a fully remote structure even prior to the pandemic shutdowns. Ms. Sze was named a Super Lawyer© for Northern California as a Top Rated Health Care Attorney in 2021 and 2022, and a Top Health Care Lawyer in San Francisco by the Daily Journal in 2020.