D. Michael Frink

207.774.9000 ext 241
dfrink@curtisthaxter.com

Michael Frink is one of the firm’s principal lawyers in the areas of administrative, insurance and healthcare law. He has concentrated his legal career for nearly twenty five years in these areas, first in the public sector with the Maine Attorney General’s Office, and for the past 20 years in private practice with Curtis Thaxter. He is listed in Woodward and White’s Best Lawyers in America for his work in administrative law, and is the only attorney in Maine admitted to the Federation of Regulatory Counsel, a national organization of lawyers that specialize in administrative and insurance law.

In the administrative law area, Michael has represented health plans, insurance companies, a major lottery services company, a cellular telecommunications company and a statewide association of construction companies in complex regulatory hearings.

In the insurance law area, Michael has represented insurance companies in a variety of matters, including administrative hearings, acquisition of blocks of business, market conduct investigations, regulatory compliance, acquiring certificates of authority for companies and for new lines of business and litigation of various issues.

In the healthcare area, Michael serves as general counsel to two of Maine’s largest physician-hospital organizations, and has represented nursing facilities, residential care facilities, home health agencies and individual providers including physicians, psychologists and allied health professionals in reimbursement and licensing board matters.

Prior to joining Curtis Thaxter, Michael served as a law clerk for Hon. Hugh H. Bownes of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Representative Matters

Administrative Law

• Lead Counsel to Maine Association of Health Plans (Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maine, CIGNA Health Plans, Aetna Health Plans and Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare) in regulatory hearings and appellate litigation regarding assessments levied by Maine’s Dirigo Health Agency.
• Lead Counsel to Unicel in administrative hearing on award of statewide cellular telecommunications contract.
• Lead Counsel to Autotote/Scientific Games Lottery Corporation in administrative hearing on award of statewide, multi-million dollar ten-year contract for lottery services.
• Lead Counsel to the Maine Association of Constructors in administrative hearing before the Maine Department of Labor to establish the statewide prevailing wage rates for all public work contracts.
• Lead Counsel to UNUM Provident Corporation in administrative hearing on award of statewide life insurance contract for all state employees, retirees and their dependents.
• Lead Counsel to CIGNA Health Plans in administrative hearing on award of $100 million statewide contract for health insurance contract for all state employees, retirees and their dependents.
• Lead Counsel to Healthsource, Maine, a health maintenance organization, in three administrative hearings and appellate litigation on three awards of contracts for statewide health insurance for all state employees, retirees and their dependents.

Insurance Law

• Lead Counsel to United Health Group in the acquisition of lines of business
• Lead Counsel on regulatory and compliance matters for insurance and financial services companies including Selective Insurance Group, National Western Life Insurance Company, National Accident Insurance Underwriters, General Electric/Westport Insurance Company, Merrill Lynch, Northland Insurance Company and Warburg/Dillon Read.
• Lead Counsel on regulatory and compliance matters for insurance brokerages including Brown & Brown, Inc.

Healthcare Law

• For over ten years, General Counsel to Maine Network for Health, one of Maine’s largest multi-hospital physician-hospital organizations serving northern and eastern Maine.
• General Counsel to the Maine Behavioral Health partnership, a consortium of physicians, hospitals, mental health institutions including spring Harbor Hospital, Southern Maine Medical Center, St. Mary’s Hospital, Sweetser and Spurwink School.
• Lead Counsel to Spurwink School in administrative hearings on reimbursement levels under the MaineCare Medicaid program.
• Lead Counsel to residential care and boarding facilities in administrative licensing hearings at the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.
• Lead Counsel to private non-medical institution (“PNMI”) facilites in Medicare and Medicaid fraud and abuse investigations.
• Counsel to physicians and psychologists in Medicare and Medicaid investigations of fraud and billing practices.
• Counsel to nursing facilities, residential care facilities and physicians in Certificate of Need hearings and negotiations.
• Counsel to physicians, psychologists and allied health professionals in licensing board hearings and negotiations.

Publications

• Maine’s Dirigo Health Reform Act – Is it Working?, FORC Journal of Regulatory Law, Vol. XVII, Ed. II, June 1, 2006 (co-authored with George Linge)
• As Goes Maine? The Dirigo Health Reform Act of 2003, FORC Journal of Regulatory Law, Vol. XV, Ed.VII,December 1, 2004.
• State Regulation of Downstream Risk under Managed Care Plans, FORC Journal of Regulatory Law, Vol.XI, Ed.II,June 5, 1999.

Community Service

Michael is active in his home area of mid-coast Maine through his service as a Trustee of Lincoln Academy, and as Planned Giving Officer of St. Andrew’s Church. He is also a former Director of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Maine, past director of the Kennebec Valley YMCA and a past member of the Augusta and Damariscotta-Newcastle Rotary Clubs.

J.D., Suffolk University Law School, 1981
cum laude; Editor in Chief, Suffolk University Law Review

B.A., Government and Philosophy, Dartmouth College, 1975 cum laude

Maine

Massachusetts

U.S. District Court for Maine

American Bar Association
Administrative and Health Law Sections

Maine State Bar Association

American Health Lawyers Association

Healthcare Financial Management Association

Listed in the Best Lawyers In America® in the field of Administrative Law.

Federation of Regulatory counsel