Damaris Medina is a Shareholder in Buchalter’s Los Angeles and Orange County offices, where she serves as Co-Chair of the Health Care Practice Group and Chair of the Firm’s Health Systems & Hospitals Industry Group. A nationally recognized health care attorney, Ms. Medina brings more than 15 years of experience representing hospitals, health systems, and other health care providers in complex litigation, reimbursement, and regulatory matters.
Ms. Medina’s practice focuses on managed care litigation involving commercial and Medicare/Medicaid plans, where she has successfully litigated numerous high-value reimbursement disputes against major health plans—recovering millions of dollars for her provider clients. Her experience spans both out-of-network disputes, where she establishes the reasonable value of hospital and physician services, and in-network matters involving unfair payment practices, medical necessity, and coding denials. She represents clients in arbitration, state, and federal courts nationwide.
Beyond litigation, Ms. Medina provides strategic counsel to hospitals and health systems on managed care contracting, revenue cycle optimization, regulatory compliance, and risk management. She also defends providers in government and private payor audits, False Claims Act investigations, and enforcement actions brought by agencies such as the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Office of Inspector General (OIG).
Recognized as one of the Best Lawyers in America and among the Most Influential Women Attorneys by the Los Angeles Business Journal, Ms. Medina also received the California Lawyer of the Year (CLAY) Award for her work in health care law. She has been consistently named a “Rising Star” and one of the “Top Women Attorneys in Southern California” by Super Lawyers Magazine since 2014. Ms. Medina has been published and quoted in Law 360, JD Supra, and California Health Law News, and is a frequent speaker for the California Hospital Association, HFMA, the American Bar Association and the American Health Law Association on hospital reimbursement and managed-care litigation trends and strategies.
In addition to her extensive work with hospitals and health systems, Ms. Medina represents a wide range of health care clients, including urgent care centers, emergency physician groups, billing companies, specialty physician practices, pharmacies, dentists, and health care consulting firms. She also handles complex business and commercial litigation, including class actions, shareholder disputes, breach of contract, and FINRA arbitration.