Dawn R. Helak
Partner
Suite 350S
Biography
Dawn is a partner in the Healthcare practice and a member of the Hospitals & Health Systems, Healthcare Private Equity, and Emerging Technologies industry teams. She leverages her extensive experience with healthcare providers and her public health background to deliver exceptional value and pragmatic advice to clients across the healthcare industry.
Dawn provides strategic counseling and advice focused on complex healthcare transactions and regulatory compliance. Her clients include hospitals and health systems, academic medical centers, private equity firms, physician practices, post/sub-acute providers, trade associations and coalitions, and other public and private healthcare companies.
Over the years, Dawn has advised on hundreds of transactions in the healthcare industry, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and strategic affiliations and divestitures. She has represented large academic medical centers in affiliations and other strategic transactions with institutional providers and physicians. She also works with private equity firms and other sponsors in connection with transactions involving physician practice management organizations, behavioral health services (including those providing substance use disorder, eating disorder, and autism/behavioral analysis services), home health and hospice, post-acute care, and specialty pharmacy services.
Dawn’s regulatory practice includes federal and state healthcare fraud and abuse compliance, reimbursement issues, licensure, and operational matters. She also provides timely, strategic counseling to clients on emerging healthcare regulatory issues, including COVID-19 relief funding compliance, reporting, audits, and investigations.
Dawn partners with her clients to understand relevant legal issues and business considerations impacting their business and operations. She regularly works with legal counsel and other business professionals to develop pragmatic and solution-oriented strategies to achieve client business objectives within a compliant regulatory framework. Her holistic approach ensures that her clients remain compliant within the ever-evolving healthcare landscape.
Prior to joining AGG, Dawn practiced in the healthcare group of a global law firm and served in the office of the president of a 900+ bed health system.
Related Services
Experience
- Obtained settlement of Administrative Procedure Act action challenging denial of Provider Relief Fund funding that resulted in payment of $43 million to not-for-profit health system.*
- Served as transaction and health regulatory counsel to a leading seven-hospital health system in its strategic affiliation with another regional health system.*
- Served as transaction and health regulatory counsel to a leading academic medical center in the asset purchase of a health system.*
- Advised private equity firms and portfolio companies in connection with acquisitions of:
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- physician practice management organizations and affiliated professional practices (including within women’s care/fertility, dermatology, anesthesia/pain management, dentistry, ortho, gastroenterology, urology);
- behavioral health, including substance use disorder, eating disorder, autism treatment, and ABA/applied behavior analysis;
- physical, occupational, and speech therapy service providers; and
- post-acute care, home health providers home.*
- Served as transaction counsel to a leading trade association in its development and services agreements with a multinational software corporation to develop a groundbreaking health information technology platform for cancer research.*
*Representative matters handled while practicing at another law firm
Credentials
- Boston University School of Law, Juris Doctor – Health Law Concentration,with Honors
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Bachelor of Science – Public Health
- District of Columbia
- American College of Healthcare Executives
- American Health Lawyers Association
Recognition
- Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America®, Healthcare Law, 2025
News & Insights
- NewsAGG Increases Number of Attorneys Recognized in 2025 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America® With Four Named “Lawyer of the Year”August 15, 2024 | Rankings & Recognition | News Releases | Arnall Golden Gregory LLP
- EventsAGG’s Women in Tech Law Launch EventApril 11, 2024 | AGG Seminars & Webinars | Atlanta, Georgia
- NewsAGG Launches New Women in Tech Law Initiative and Emerging Technologies Industry TeamMarch 28, 2024 | News Releases | Arnall Golden Gregory LLP