RENÉE M. POPOVITS
Founder of Popovits & Robinson, P.C.
Renée M. Popovits, founded the law firm of Popovits & Robinson in 1997 and has been a practicing health care attorney since 1989. Ms. Popovits has represented behavioral healthcare providers, physician practice clients, research organizations, governmental entities and trade associations in corporate transactions, mergers, affiliations, corporate compliance, confidentiality, consent, licensure, reimbursement, contracting, managed care, human resources, data-sharing, HIPAA privacy issues and public policy matters. The law firm represents some of the largest substance abuse treatment providers in the State of Illinois as well as providers with a national presence, including providers in Arizona, California, Texas, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas, New Jersey, and Tennessee. Ms. Popovits was also General Counsel of BHS Management Corp., a company serving multi-state human service and behavioral health care providers. Prior to this she was a healthcare attorney at the Chicago firm of Coffield, Ungaretti & Harris.

She has lectured extensively and published articles on confidentiality issues, corporate compliance programs, HIPAA, risk management issues, child abuse reporting, maternal versus fetal rights, toxicology testing, legislation relating to the treatment of pregnant substance abusers, and other health care legal issues. Ms. Popovits has lectured at national conferences sponsored by CSAT, NAATP, ASAM, NASADAD, ACYF and APHSA, primarily focusing on substance abuse confidentiality, HIPAA, child welfare issues, employee recruitment and retention and corporate compliance. Ms. Popovits also has been a featured speaker on HIPAA issues for the National Governors Association. Ms. Popovits and renowned author William L. White published in February, 2001 the second edition to Critical Incidents, a book addressing ethical issues in substance abuse prevention and treatment. In August, 2001, Ms. Popovits also produced a comprehensive training video for front line counselors on the federal confidentiality regulations governing substance abuse treatment records. In 2002, all of the attorneys at the firm, in conjunction with IADDA, developed a three-volume set of HIPAA policies and procedures and implementation tools for Behavioral Health Care Providers across the country. Ms. Popovits has also published a Chapter on Legal Issues in UCLA’s Addiction Counseling Review and is currently publishing a Chapter on Adolescent Substance Abuse: Phych Comorbidity & High Risk Behaviors.

Ms. Popovits has served on Governor Edgar’s Forum on Substance Abuse, Governor Blagojevich’s Labor Transition Subcommittee on Disability Issues and currently is a member of the Women’s Committee of the Illinois Advisory Council on Alcoholism and Other Drug Dependence. While she served as Chairperson of the Women’s Committee, the first two legislative plans establishing a statewide blueprint for women’s services in Illinois were developed for the Illinois General Assembly pursuant to legislative mandate. She served as Co-Chairperson of the DHS-DASA/DCFS Advisory Committee for five years and is a current member of this interagency committee and its Title IVE Waiver Subcommittee. She is a member of the IADDA Financial Advisory Workgroup and served on the DASA Managed Care Committee. Ms. Popovits serves on the Board of Directors of Catholic Charities, as Co-Chair of the Legal Advisory Committee, as a Board member on the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers (“NAATP”) and as an NAATP Managed Care Task Force Co-Chair. Ms. Popovits also serves on the Governors State University Addiction Studies Advisory Board. In 2002, Ms. Popovits received the Compassion in Action Award from Francis Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago. Ms. Popovits is a member of the American Health Lawyers Association, the Illinois Association of Health Care Attorneys and the Illinois State Bar Association.

Ms. Popovits received her undergraduate degree from Saint Xavier College, cum laude and her law degree from DePaul University College of Law, with honors. While in law school, she served on the DePaul Law Review and was the Assistant Editor of the Journal of Health and Hospital Law, a publication of the American Academy of Hospital Attorneys. She served as an adjunct professor at DePaul University where she taught masters level students Introduction to Health Law.

Elizabeth Donohue
Associate
Elizabeth Donohue, Associate, has been with Popovits & Robinson since 1997. She specializes in the areas of regulatory, corporate, contract, fraud and abuse, tax-exemption and behavioral health care law and has furnished guidance to clients on a variety of issues, including: confidentiality, client rights, subpoenas and medical record requests and the treatment of minors, risk management, employment matters and other corporate issues. She has lectured at conferences sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), NAATP, IADDA and the Haymarket Center on substance abuse confidentiality issues and HIPAA privacy and transactions/code sets issues and has conducted numerous trainings on various issues relating to the substance abuse treatment field. Ms. Donohue has drafted, negotiated and finalized numerous contracts, including agreements in the areas of research, joint ventures, managed care, physician and allied health fields and employment. Ms. Donohue has also been an Institutional Review Board (IRB) member and has additionally acted as the Board’s legal representative. In that capacity she has provided guidance on a variety of research-related issues, including human research subjects rights and the interaction of state laws with IRB policies and procedures and human subject research, as well as assisting in the development of the IRB’s research policies and protocols. She has also assisted the IRB with member education and recent legal updates and trends affecting the IRB and its members. Ms. Donohue is also well-versed in tax-exemption issues, including formation of not-for-profit entities and related tax-exempt transactions.

Ms. Donohue has been a practicing health care attorney since her admission to the Bar in 1998. She is a member of the Illinois Association of Health Care Attorneys, the American Bar Association, the Illinois State Bar Association, the Chicago Bar Association, the Women’s Health Executive Network and the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois. Ms. Donohue received her undergraduate degree from Loyola University and her law degree from Loyola University College of Law. While in law school, Ms. Donohue was a member of the school’s Health Law Society and was also an Articles Editor for the Annals of Health Law, a publication of Loyola University.

Kimberly Chmura
Associate
Kimberly Chmura, Associate, joined Popovits & Robinson in May 2007. Ms. Chmura focuses on corporate agreements, transactions, policies, and regulatory issues that impact not-for-profit and for-profit health care organizations.

Before joining the firm, Ms. Chmura worked for the University of Chicago Hospitals as a Director of Managed Care Contracting where she focused on facility and physician managed care contracting. Ms. Chmura negotiated managed care agreements for general health services and specialty carve-outs on behalf of the hospital and physicians with a variety of managed care organizations, including HMOs, PPOs and other payers. She assisted the hospital and physicians with a variety of managed care issues including credentialing, billing and reimbursement. Ms. Chmura also focused on hospital law and policy, regulatory compliance, fraud and abuse and health care finance.

Prior to joining the University of Chicago Hospitals, Ms. Chmura worked for several years at a Big 5 accounting firm where she gained extensive experience in business immigration, labor and employment and partner matters. Ms. Chmura is also a former litigator with a not-for-profit social services organization in Chicago.

Ms. Chmura received her undergraduate degree in Political Science and Criminology from Purdue University. She received her law degree and Certificate in Health Law from DePaul University College of Law in 1997. She is a member of the Chicago Bar Association and the Illinois State Bar Association.

Debra Millinowisch
Paralegal
Debra Millinowisch, Paralegal joined Popovits & Robinson in October 2005. Ms. Millinowisch has been a corporate paralegal since 1986. Ms. Millinowisch is responsible for corporate filings, researching various legal matters, preparing first drafts of contracts and maintaining the corporate tickler system.

Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Millinowisch was employed for eleven years as a corporate paralegal at Schiff Hardin, Chicago, where she prepared and reviewed merger documents including subsidiary mergers, reviewed existing contracts for corporate transactions, researched blue sky statutes which included the preparation of a 50 state chart regarding Regulation D filing requirements, and drafted proxy statements and N–2 Registration Statements for filing with the SEC. Ms. Millinowisch also obtained legal experience from working as a corporate paralegal at Jenner & Block for 3 years.

Ms. Millinowisch received her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago in Marketing and her Paralegal Certificate from Roosevelt University, Chicago.