Susan Briones

Partner

Susan.Briones@lewisbrisbois.com

Susan Briones is a partner in the Dallas office of Lewis Brisbois and a member of the Healthcare practice. With a long term focus in Health Law, during law school Ms. Briones was a member of University of Houston’s Health Law Association, the Health Law & Policy Institute, and was Chief Notes & Comments Editor for the Houston Journal of Health Law & Policy. She then obtained her Master of Laws Degree in Health Law from the University of Houston Law Center’s nationally ranked LL.M. Health Law program. 

Ms. Briones has practiced healthcare liability defense in Texas for over 20 years and has extensive experience representing healthcare providers including physicians, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, and social workers in healthcare liability claims and providing legal assistance in employment, compliance and contracting matters. She also handles cases involving healthcare institutions such as hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and freestanding emergency, surgical, and general medicine clinics. 

Ms. Briones also has many years’ experience defending doctors, physician assistants, nurses, dentists, social workers, and other healthcare professionals before state licensing boards, successfully resolving board complaints and investigations at every stage from initial complaint through Informal Settlement Conference and beyond. In addition, she has defended physicians and nurses in hospital peer review investigations and represented healthcare providers in Quality Improvement Investigations by private insurers and Medicare (KEPRO), HIPAA violation investigations by the Department of Health & Human Services Office of Civil Rights, and healthcare fraud investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Primary Area(s) of Practice

  • Medical Malpractice
  • Healthcare

Additional Experience

Admissions

Texas

United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas

United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas

Associations

  • Member, American Health Law Association
  • Member, State Bar of Texas, Health Law Section
  • Member, Dallas Bar Association, Health Law Section
  • Member, American Society for Healthcare Risk Management (ASHRM)
  • Past Member, Greater Houston Society for Healthcare Risk Management (GHSHRM)
  • Volunteer, Houston Bar Association/Texas Supreme Court Historical Society Teach Texas program
  • Volunteer, St. Joseph Apache Mission Restoration Project
  • Volunteer, Houston Habitat for Humanity
  • Volunteer, KIPP Schools

Awards & Honors

  • Houston Journal of Health Law & Policy – Chief Notes & Comments Editor
  • Houston Journal of Health Law & Policy – Editor’s Award

Professional Presentations

  • Presenter – Medical Malpractice Litigation 2024 - National Business Institute (NBI), December 2023
  • Presenter – Medical Malpractice Litigation 2023 - National Business Institute (NBI), May 2023
  • Co-Presenter – Takeaways from the Latest Chapter of the National Prescription Opioid Litigation – American Conference Institute Fourth Annual Summit on Controlled Substances: Regulation, Litigation, and Enforcement, June 2021
  • Co-Presenter – Telehealth – Collin-Fannin County Medical Society Conference, February 2021
  • Panel Member – The Other Epidemic: The Parties, The Claims, and the Insurance Policies Involved in the Opioid Litigation - Dallas Bar Association Tort & Insurance Practice Section Continuing Legal Education Seminar, November 2020
  • Co-Presenter – New Objects of Addiction: Recognizing Dangerous Patterns for New Drugs of Concern - American Conference Institute Third Annual Summit on Controlled Substances: Regulation, Litigation, and Enforcement, July 2020
  • Presenter – Surprise! The New Balance Billing Law - Collin-Fannin County Medical Society Conference, February 2020
  • Presenter – All About the Texas Medical Board - Collin-Fannin County Medical Society Conference, October 2019
  • Panel Member – Covering the Opioid Epidemic: Issues arising under Professional and Management Liability Policies - PLUS Eastern Chapter Seminar in NYC, September 2019
  • Co-Presenter – LBBS Webinar: The Opioid Epidemic: Litigation, Mitigation, Healthcare & Insurance –Continuing Education for Insurance and Legal Professionals, February 2019 
  • Presenter – The Opioid Crisis and its Impact on Health Care Providers and Risk Management - Dallas Bar Association Health Law Section Continuing Legal Education Seminar, February 2019
  • Presenter – HIPAA Soup to Nuts - Continuing Education for Insurance Professionals, 2017
  • Presenter – Handling Quality of Care Complaints from Private Insurance & Medicare - University of Texas ER Residents Conference, 2017
  • Co-Presenter – Peer Review: What is Reportable? What is Discoverable? - Continuing Education for Insurance Professionals, 2017
  • Co-Presenter – The Texas Medical Board: What all Doctors Need to Know - Continuing Education for Insurance Professionals and University of Texas ER Residents Conference, 2016
  • Co-Presenter – Ethical Considerations for Liability Insurers: Conflicts of Interest & National Practitioner Databank - Continuing Education for Insurance Professionals, 2016
  • Co-Presenter – Handling Texas Medical Board Matters from Initial Complaint to District Court - Continuing Education for Insurance Professionals, 2014
  • Co-presenter – Helping Nurses Navigate Litigation Challenges - Continuing Education for Nursing Professionals, 2012

Education

University of Houston Law Center

Master of Laws in Health Law

University of Houston Law Center

Juris Doctor

New Mexico State University

Master of Arts, Education

New Mexico State University

Bachelor of Arts, Theatre Arts

Legal Experience

  • Over 15 years representing healthcare providers in Texas, obtaining defense verdicts at trial
  • Extensive motion practice, drafting and arguing motions at the trial court level and oral arguments before Texas Courts of Appeal
  • Successfully obtaining dismissals of lawsuits at trial court level with Motions to Dismiss and Motions for Summary Judgment
  • Successfully defending dismissals at trial level and on interlocutory appeal to Court of Appeals and Texas Supreme Court with recovery of attorneys’ fees
  • Successfully defending healthcare practitioners before Texas State Licensing Boards, with high rate of dismissal prior to Informal Settlement Conference and at ISC
  • Obtaining favorable results in KEPRO (Medicare’s Quality Improvement Organization) investigations
  • Obtaining favorable results in US Department of Health & Human Services Office of Civil Rights investigations of HIPAA violations
  • Contributing to numerous publications addressing healthcare liability claims and licensing board defense in Texas
  • Making presentations to healthcare providers, medical students, risk managers, and liability insurance professionals on wide array of healthcare liability issues

Publications

  • The Opioid Epidemic and Implications for Texas Practitioners; Dallas Bar Association Headnotes, February 2020
  • Suicide: The Shifting of Responsibility from the Individual to Others: A Proposal for Changing Liability Standards Applicable to Physicians When Their Patients Commit Suicide; University of Houston Law Center LLM Program Thesis, 2009.
  • Heparin Recall: Another Crisis for China & the FDA; Health Law Perspectives, April 2008