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Lawrence F. Kobak

Senior Counsel at Frier Levitt LLC

Uniondale, New York (Long Island / NYC metro)

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Why they matter

He defends podiatry and physician practices against OPMC, Medicare audit, and recoupment actions — direct insight into the regulatory risk buyers underwrite in physician-practice roll-ups.

Background

Dr. Lawrence F. Kobak, DPM, Esq. is a dual-credentialed podiatrist and healthcare attorney who serves as Senior Counsel in Frier Levitt's Healthcare Department. Before practicing law he was a licensed podiatric surgeon and international president of the Academy of Ambulatory Foot and Ankle Surgery, and he later ran the OPMC/OPD physician-discipline defense practice at Abrams Fensterman before joining Frier Levitt in 2017 to help open its Uniondale office.

Notable deals

  • 2017
    Joined Frier Levitt as Senior Counsel, anchoring the firm's new Uniondale, NY healthcare law office and expanding its Long Island physician-defense practice
  • 2021
    Authored Podiatry Management piece on standard-of-care defense strategy for podiatrists facing malpractice and board scrutiny
  • 2024
    Published a CMS appeal case study detailing a successful Medicare recoupment appeal for a podiatry practice, showing his audit-defense playbook

Call-prep brief

Background

  • Rare dual credential: licensed podiatrist (DPM) turned healthcare attorney; former partner at Kern Augustine and at Abrams Fensterman, where he ran OPMC/OPD physician-discipline defense.
  • Joined Frier Levitt in 2017 as Senior Counsel to help launch its Uniondale, NY healthcare office.

Current focus

  • Physician licensure defense, Medical Board (OPMC/OPD) investigations, Medicare/RAC/OIG audit appeals, and billing-fraud defense — largely for solo and small-group podiatry/physician practices.
  • Serves as outside/legal counsel to several specialty associations (e.g., Academy of Minimally Invasive Foot and Ankle Surgery) and is contracted counsel to the NY State Academy of Family Physicians.

What he cares about

  • Getting practices to engage counsel *early* in audit/appeal cycles rather than after two levels of appeal are lost — a recurring theme in his writing.
  • Protecting individual physicians' licenses and livelihoods, not deal economics — his lens is regulatory/compliance risk, not transaction structuring.

Recent moves

  • Active columnist (monthly, Podiatry Management) through at least 2025 on disciplinary and Medicare compliance topics — a good pulse on emerging audit trends hitting small physician practices.

Sensitivities

  • He is a defense-side advocate for individual physicians, not an M&A/rollup lawyer — framing outreach as due-diligence/compliance intelligence (not deal-sourcing) will land better.
  • Client confidentiality on active OPMC/Medicare matters will limit what he can discuss specifically.

Questions to ask

  1. What compliance red flags (billing patterns, board complaint history) should a buyer screen for before acquiring a podiatry/physician practice?
  2. How exposed are consolidated physician groups to Medicare RAC/OIG audits post-acquisition, and who typically owns that liability in a deal?
  3. What early-warning signs distinguish a practice heading toward a disciplinary or fraud investigation from routine regulatory noise?

Outreach draft

Subject
Regulatory diligence on physician practice risk
Dr. Kobak, I work with a private equity team evaluating physician-practice consolidation opportunities, and your work defending practices in OPMC investigations and Medicare audit appeals caught our attention — particularly your recent Podiatry Management piece on early engagement in CMS appeals. We're trying to build a sharper picture of the regulatory and licensure risks that surface during diligence on physician groups, and your vantage point defending practices through these exact issues would be extremely valuable. Would you have 20-30 minutes for a call in the next couple of weeks? Happy to work around your schedule, and of course compensate for your time. Best, [Placeholder Name]

Linked companies

Sources

Strongest evidencePage title7 public sourcesVerified2026-08-06How the grades work