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Susan Feigin Harris

Susan Feigin Harris focuses her practice on providing comprehensive legal services to health industry clients, including hospitals and hospital systems, physicians and physician group practices, academic medical centers, rehabilitation facilities, ambulatory surgery centers and dialysis providers. Ms. Harris is board certified in Health Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

Ms. Harris has advised clients with respect to unique reimbursement issues affecting healthcare providers and suppliers, including Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, managed care, discount programs for the uninsured, issues of special significance to children’s hospitals and academic medical centers. She has experience in drafting and negotiating managed care arrangements from the provider’s perspective. Ms. Harris has represented physicians, provider networks and hospital systems in managed care contract negotiations and has developed comprehensive managed care contracts for clients. In addition, she has been involved in disputes over managed care contract matters on behalf of providers.

Ms. Harris has represented clients before the Texas legislature and before state regulatory authorities advocating healthcare public policy issues, including indigent healthcare, Medicaid funding, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and immunization programs. Her experience includes analyzing and structuring Medicaid intergovernmental transfers and issues related to federal financial participation for both public and private hospital entities. In addition, she has spent considerable time counseling clients regarding special issues arising in research, providing research compliance audits and programs in conjunction with billing compliance audits. Ms. Harris also has experience crafting and implementing federal legislative health policy strategic plans, including issues involved in federal healthcare reform.

Ms. Harris is a former Vice President of the Texas Medical Center Legal Department. As a former in-house counsel, she has a unique understanding of academic medical center institution issues.

Some of Ms. Harris’s representative experience includes:

• Structured a Medicaid graduate medical education settlement with the state and secured federal financial participation through an intergovernmental transfer
• Analyzed several state intergovernmental transfer arrangements and worked through restructure of those arrangements
• Reviewed multiple hospital-within-hospital Medicare certification issues and worked with Medicare fiscal intermediaries to maintain or obtain such certification
• Handled all Medicare and Medicaid licensing and certification issues associated with multiple change of ownerships (CHOW)
• Handled closure and transfer of pediatric graduate medical education program
• Provided comprehensive research compliance program for academic medical centers
• Handled research conflicts of interest inquiry by HHS department and obtained conflicts waivers
• Handled research import/export regulatory audit and provided legal support
• Drafted uniform Medicaid managed care matrix and uniform contract for client
• Sued a Medicaid managed care company to recover out of network fees
• Handled state-by-state analyses of out of network discount issues and insurance fraud statutes
• Represented client in managed care arbitration over claims payment issues
• Represented client’s managed care contracting dispute regarding network development of specialists

Ms. Harris is a member of the American Health Lawyers Association and currently serves as the Vice-Chair of its In-House Counsel practice group and formerly co-chaired its Children’s Hospital Affinity Group. She is a member of the American and Houston Bar Associations and is a founding member of the HBA Health Law Section. Ms. Harris has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Houston Law Center and currently serves on the Board of Directors for Texans Care for Children. She served as a director of The Texas Lyceum and is a senior fellow of the American Leadership Forum: Medical Class 2. Ms. Harris has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America in healthcare law since 2006 and has been named a “Texas Super Lawyer” for 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. In addition to being named a Super Lawyer, Ms. Harris was also recognized as one of the Top 50 Women Texas Super Lawyers in 2009 and named one of Houston’s Top Lawyers in Health Law by H Texas Magazine in 2010.

Ms. Harris is a frequent speaker and writer on a range of topics affecting health industry clients, including legislative updates, issues affecting consumer-driven healthcare initiatives and Medicaid updates. Ms. Harris’s most recent publications and speaking engagements include:

• THA/SBA Health Law Conference: Fundamentals of Health Reform (October 11-12, 2010)
• AHLA: Healthcare Reform and Its Impact on Children’s Hospitals (October 1, 2010)
• University of Texas School of Public Health - Houston, Legal Issues in Health Care Administration: The Regulatory Framework: Medicare / Medicaid Payment and Delivery System Reform (September 23, 2010) 
• Houston Young Professionals Endeavor Healthcare Panel: What the Healthcare Reform Act Means for Hospitals, Physicians, Patients and Their Lawyers (August 19, 2010)
• TSCPA Advanced Health Care Conference: Back to the Future: Accountable Care Organizations, Clinical Integration, Medical Homes and Emerging Models for Delivery System Reform (July 26, 2010)
• University of Texas Health Law Conference: Health Reform: We Had the Audacity—Now What? (April 7-8, 2010)
• HFMA: Healthcare Reform: A Study in Policy, Politics and a Sign of the Times (September 18, 2009)
• HFMA May Symposium: Legislative Update (May 14, 2009)
• Health Law & Policy Institute’s Health Care Law: Managed Care Update (July 11 - 18, 2008)
• HFMA Legislative Update: Why Do Today What You Can Put Off ’Till Tomorrow? (April 25 - May 15, 2008)
• University of Texas Health Law Conference: Managed Care Update (March 27, 2008)
• AHLA Teleconference: Where the Healthcare Research and U.S. Export Relations Meet. Do You Know What Is Coming Into and Out of Your Labs? (January 15, 2008)
• AHLA Teleconference Moderator: Disclosure and Apology (January 9, 2008)
• University of Houston Health Law Update—Legislative Update (July 12 - 19, 2007)
• Lorman Education Services Teleconference: Notification of Hospital Discharge Appeal Rights: Navigating the CMS Final Rule (June 6, 2007)
• UT Health Care Conference: Health Legislative Update (April 21, 2007)