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OVERVIEW & EXPERIENCE
Susan is known as one of Ohio’s leading healthcare attorneys and is the author of the book “Ohio Health Care Provider Law,” which has been relied upon in healthcare law across the state for more than 20 years.
As Of Counsel, she works with clients on regulatory and compliance matters, medical staff and licensing issues, contract negotiations, litigation and general corporate law. Susan also serves as General Counsel for Southwest General Hospital.
Susan’s contributions to the field of healthcare law across her 40-year legal career have been recognized locally and nationally. She is a current fellow and former board member of the American Health Lawyers Association, and currently serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the associations Journal of Health and Life Sciences Law. She was also honored with the Distinguished Women in Healthcare award from the Visiting Nurse Association and served as a member of the Ohio State Dental Board. She also is frequently asked to contribute to various health law publications. Susan is an attorney equally respected among medical staffs and healthcare executives.
Susan pioneered the curriculum in Health Law at Cleveland State University’s Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and continues to teach graduate and undergraduate courses in health law at Baldwin-Wallace University.
Outside of her legal work and teaching, Susan is a world traveler with a particular interest in nature and animals and has visited the Amazon rainforest, India, China and Africa among other places. She is a weaver and spinner who creates one-of-a-kind handspun yarns and craft pieces.
Representative Experience
- Serving as legal counsel to the City of Cleveland in the proposed $425 million redevelopment of the City’s Convention Center and the world’s first Medical Mart, a series of showrooms for medical device, pharmaceutical, hospital, medical colleges, and other medical-related companies
- Assisting a manufacturer and distribution of medical devices to go public
- Serving as hospital counsel for a variety of credit facilities with lending institutions
- Assisting with Joint Commission survey readiness
- Successfully litigating and settling a case against the National Practitioner Data Bank
- Handling peer review matters from initial investigations through full hearings
- Assisting healthcare providers in creating a financially and clinically integrated network of providers
- Qualifying healthcare providers for federal and state tax-exempt status
- Representing physicians before the Ohio Medical Board
- Assisting a publicly-held medical insurance holding company to acquire additional medical insurance companies with combined assets of more than $650 million
- Advising stockholders of a company providing billing services to the healthcare industry in a $90 million sale and recapitalization transaction
- Representing a start-up firm that has developed a preventive and predictive medical imaging platform
- Counseling an operator of dialysis centers in connection with various aspects of its business, including a joint venture with a national dialysis service provider
- Representing a start-up teleradiology company in raising capital, key client and service agreements, and corporate structure
AWARDS & PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Awards
- The Best Lawyers in America®, Health Care Law, 1995 – 2024
- Selected to Ohio Super Lawyers, 2004 – 2006, 2016 – 2024
- Martindale-Hubbell AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated Attorney
- American Health Lawyers Association, Fellow, 2005 – Present
- America’s Most Honored Lawyers – Top 1% 2016 – 2022
- Martindale-Hubbell AV® Preeminent Attorney – Judicial Edition 2017 – 2022
- The Best Lawyers In America (Woodward/White), 1991 – 1998, 2015, 2016, 2018 – 2021
- Distinguished Women in Healthcare, Visiting Nurse Association, 2005
- Ohio Super Lawyer, Law and Politics, 2004 – 2007
- Leading Lawyers, Northeast Ohio’s Inside Business magazine, 2001 – Present
- Distinguished Alumnus, College of Arts and Sciences, Kent State University, 2001
- Crain’s Cleveland Business, Notable Women in Healthcare, 2018
Professional Affiliations
- American Health Lawyers Association, Fellow
- Editor in Chief, Journal of Health and Life Science Law, 2018 – 2019
- National Board of Directors, 1997 – 2001
- New Mediation Training, Alternate Dispute Resolution Service, 2012, Advisory Board
- Continuing Legal Education Committee, Chair, 1993 – 1995
- Health Law Section, Chair, 1988 – 1989
- Health Law Council, Member 1986 – 1989, 1991 – 1992, 2001 – 2003
- Health Law Institute, Chair, 1992 and 1998; American Bar Association
- Cleveland-Marshall College of Law; Kent State University Healthcare MBA Program; Baldwin Wallace University
- Instructor
- Ohio Society of Hospital Attorneys
- Ohio State Bar Association
- Ohio State Dental Board
- Public representative, 1990 – 1995 (appointed by Ohio Governor Richard Celeste)
BAR / COURT ADMISSIONS
- Ohio
CIVIC INVOLVEMENT
- Berea Education Foundation
- Board Member, 2010 – Present
- Southwest General Community Health Foundation
- Board Member, 2012 – Present
- The Eliza Jennings Group (a non-profit providing nursing home, assisted living and other services for older adults)
- Board Member, 2009 – Present
- Chair, 2015 – 2017
- University Suburban Health Center
- Board Member, 2014 – Present
MEDIA MENTIONS
PRESENTATIONS & PUBLICATIONS
- “The time is now for all Ohio physicians and health care providers to understand the state’s medical marijuana law,” Crain’s, July 2018
- Fundamentals of Health Law, Author of “Patient Care” Chapter, American Health Lawyer Association, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th Editions, 2004, 2008, 2011 and 2014
- “Indemnification in Healthcare Contracting: Structuring Healthcare Contracts to Allocate and Transfer Risk,” Legal Analysis Plus: A+ Monograph Series, National Health Lawyers Association, 1st Edition, 1996; 2nd Edition, 2003; 3rd Edition, 2014
- “Challenges to Employed Physicians’ Compensation: Direct, Indirect or Unintelligible Compensation,” Journal of Health & Life Sciences Law, 2013
- “The Employee Exceptions to the Anti- Kickback and Stark Laws After Tuomey: What’s a Physician’s Employer to Do?” Journal of Health & Life Sciences Law, February 2011, co-authored with Stephen Eisenberg
- “The Emperor Has No Clothes: Examining The Employee Exception to the Anti-Referral Laws,” Journal of Health Law, Winter 2001
- “State Peer Review Protection Statutes: High Cost but No Benefit — Is it Time for a Change?” American Journal of Law and Medicine, 1999
- Author of Ohio Health Care Provider Law, Banks-Baldwin Law Publishing, 1994
- “Confidentiality and Privilege of Peer Review Information: More Imagined than Real,” Journal of Law and Health, 1993, co-authored with Sylvia Gillis
- “The Discovery of Medical Records Maintained by Health Care Facilities: Inconsistent Law in Need of Legislative Correction,” Journal of Law & Health, 1990, co-authored with Anthea Daniels
PRACTICE AREAS
EDUCATION
- Capital University Law School, J.D., 1982, cum laude
- The Ohio State University, M.A., 1976, magna cum laude
- Kent State University B.A., Political Science, 1975, cum laude