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When CMS Audits Started Landing Days After Closing, Jennifer Papapanagiotou Was Already the One Hospices Called First
2026
This past year has been an unusually hard one for hospices operating in states caught up in CMS's PPEO audit project - and Jennifer Papapanagiotou has spent much of it on the phone with both sides of these deals. When a hospice organization changes hands in one of those states, the transaction itself can trigger enhanced regulatory scrutiny well beyond what an ordinary sale would face. Papapanagiotou has guided sellers and buyers through that process, advising on the intricacies of the transaction while simultaneously preparingboth sides for an audit that regulators may launch almost immediately after closing - work that is only going to become more common as CMS expands the PPEO audit project into additional states around the country.
Whatsets her apart in that room is not just transactional skill. Healthcare dealsattract plenty of capable transactional attorneys, but Papapanagiotou pairsdeal-making with a comprehensive command of compliance, fraud, and abuse risk -the kind of regulatory fluency that, in most firms, lives in a completelyseparate practice group from the attorneys actually closing the deal. For aclient trying to close a hospice or home health transaction without walkingstraight into a post-closing audit unprepared, having both disciplines sitinside the same advisor changes what "ready to close" actually meansin practice.
Thatexpertise doesn't stay confined to her own case files. Papapanagiotou is afrequently sought-after speaker, regularly running complimentary webinars forphysician groups, third-party billing companies, home health agencies, andhospices - sessions that walk through the pitfalls of payor contracts, themounting regulatory scrutiny being placed on "Medical Director"agreements, and how to structure an exit strategy well before a healthcarebusiness ever goes on the market. It amounts to free continuing education foran industry that badly needs it, delivered by someone who is simultaneouslyhandling the live deals her webinars are warning everyone else to prepare for.
AtLiles Parker in Houston, that combination - deal-side transactional skillmatched with genuine regulatory depth - has made Papapanagiotou a nameproviders look for specifically when a sale, purchase, or audit isn't going tobe simple. As the regulatory environment tightens state by state, that isexactly the kind of counsel the healthcare industry is going to need more of,not less, and RankWell's recognition of her as 2026's Healthcare TransactionsLawyer of the Year reflects a practice built for precisely that moment.
