Byron J. Gross joined the Los Angeles Office of NHeLP in February 2011 as Of Counsel.  Having served on NHeLP's Board of Directors for the past 18 years, Gross has now changed roles and joined staff.  Gross has returned to the legal services arena after 20 years in private practice with Hooper, Lundy & Bookman, PC, one of the country's most prominent health care law firms, where he represented health care providers in a variety of regulatory and reimbursement matters.  Among other issues, Gross served as co-counsel on numerous cases challenging reductions in Medicaid rates, which included successful arguments before the Ninth Circuit in Exeter Memorial Hospital Association v. Belshe, 145 F.3d 1106 (9th Cir. 1998) and, more recently, California Pharmacists Association v. Maxwell-Jolly, 596 F.3d 1098 (9th Cir. 2010).  Prior to being in private practice, Gross worked for 13 years in a variety of positions with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, including, in his final years there,  Directing  Attorney of LAFLA's Government Benefits Unit.  Among other awards, he received the Award of Merit from the Legal Assistance Association of California in 1989, an award granted to one attorney in California each year who has shown an outstanding commitment to legal work for low income persons.  Gross has a B.A. from Yale University and a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.  He is working on issues pertaining to health reform implementation and focusing on state implementation of health care reform.