Jeremy A. Avila

“Government agencies don’t just apply the law; they interpret it, enforce it, and shape it. Having worked inside that process informs how I litigate and how I counsel clients.” —Jeremy A. Avila

Health care organizations confronting California’s increasingly complex regulatory and enforcement environment turn to Jeremy Avila—a litigator, counselor, and former government official—for skilled advocacy and practical guidance when legal, regulatory, and government interests collide.

Jeremy’s litigation practice focuses on health care fraud, waste, and abuse defense, as well as complex commercial and regulatory disputes. He represents clients in False Claims Act and qui tam matters, Stark Law and anti-kickback enforcement actions, government and commercial coding and reimbursement disputes, and unfair business practices litigation.

On the counseling side, Jeremy advises health care entities on licensing issues, regulatory compliance, and California-specific developments reshaping the state’s health care landscape, including the Office of Health Care Affordability’s oversight of health care transactions, the strengthened corporate practice of medicine doctrine, and the evolving framework governing private equity investment in health care. Clients value Jeremy’s ability to assess risk across both the litigation and regulatory dimensions of a problem and develop strategic and practical solutions to their most challenging matters.

Before joining Epstein Becker Green, Jeremy served as Chief Counsel to the California Department of Aging, where he led an in-house legal team and advised senior state officials on legal and policy matters involving Medicaid waiver programs, federal grant programs, and the long-term care industry. Earlier in his career, he served as Deputy County Counsel for Santa Clara County and as a prosecutor in both Santa Clara and Monterey Counties, litigating a wide range of civil and criminal matters before courts and administrative bodies. That progression—more than a decade spanning roles as a courtroom prosecutor, county counsel, and chief state agency counsel—gives Jeremy an understanding of agency decision-making from multiple perspectives, shaping both how he litigates and how he counsels clients.

What Jeremy Delivers for Clients

• A Prosecutor’s Advantage in Health Care Enforcement Defense: Jeremy litigated on behalf of the government before moving to the defense side. That experience gives him a working knowledge of how enforcement actions are developed, sequenced, and resolved, which informs how he structures defense strategy for clients facing False Claims Act exposure, fraud investigations, or government-initiated disputes.
• Regulatory Intelligence That Stays Ahead of Enforcement: California’s health care regulatory environment continues to generate new enforcement priorities. Jeremy’s active counseling work and publication record reflect consistent engagement with these developments as they emerge, giving clients guidance on where enforcement attention is moving before it arrives.
• Integrated Analysis Across Litigation and Compliance: Health care matters rarely stay in one lane. A reimbursement dispute can trigger a fraud inquiry; a transaction can draw regulatory review; a compliance gap can become a False Claims Act exposure. Because Jeremy serves as both a litigator and a regulatory counselor, clients get a unified assessment of all dimensions of a problem rather than siloed advice that misses how one risk connects to another.
• Experience Across the Full Range of Health Care Participants: Jeremy represents and advises providers, payers, physician groups, hospitals, and other health care industry participants, giving him familiarity with how different stakeholders in California’s health care system interact, where their interests diverge, and how disputes between them tend to develop. That cross-sector knowledge informs both his litigation strategy and his compliance counsel.

Health Care Litigation and Dispute Resolution

• Represented a Medicaid managed care plan in complex, nearly two-year litigation raising novel issues of federal and state law concerning Medicaid managed care contracting and reimbursements.
• Representing a Medicare Advantage plan in a reimbursement dispute brought by a hospital network, with claims valued at approximately $60 million. Jeremy obtained a favorable settlement and is currently overseeing the final performance of the settlement terms.
• Represented a health care management services company in a private arbitration involving a contract dispute with the owner-operator of a senior care facility. After being brought in on an expedited basis to address cross-claims filed late in the proceedings, Jeremy and his team obtained a seven-figure final award covering all fees and costs.
• Represented a defendant in a two-month federal criminal trial in the Middle District of Tennessee on charges of violating the Anti-Kickback Statute, the federal health care fraud statute, and conspiracy to commit both. Jeremy obtained a mixed verdict, securing acquittals on the more serious charges.
• Represented two health care defendants in a California Superior Court action alleging medical malpractice and wrongful death. Jeremy obtained a dismissal of the action against both clients by successfully arguing grounds to compel arbitration.

Regulatory Counseling and Transactional Matters

• Advising California-based Medicaid managed care plans on compliance with a range of issues arising under federal budget reconciliation legislation, including coverage obligations with respect to the undocumented immigrant population and reimbursement compliance relating to reproductive health services.
• Supported the representation of a San Diego-based physician group in a strategic realignment from one institutional partner to another, providing litigation risk assessment and counsel on structuring engagements with prospective private equity and institutional partners to secure a successor affiliation.
• Counseling and representing a nonprofit organization before the California Attorney General in a regulatory filing involving the proposed transfer of substantially all of the organization’s assets, implicating state nonprofit laws governing self-dealing and conflicts of interest.

Education

• University of California, Los Angeles School of Law (J.D., 2011)
• University of Southern California (B.A., 2008)

Professional & Community Involvement

• American Health Law Association
• California Society for Healthcare Attorneys, Board of Directors (2025 to Present)
• Hispanic National Bar Association
• National LGBTQ+ Bar Association