Susannah Vance Gopalan is a Partner with the firm and focuses on health care, litigation and regulatory counseling, with 20 years of experience advising providers, associations, and governmental entities on Medicaid and Medicare payment, financing, and compliance issues.

Ms. Gopalan focuses particularly on advising associations on regulatory Medicare and Medicaid issues facing their provider members, and on guiding individual providers in resolving payment matters under federal programs. She has experience in some of the more complex regulatory areas in federal health care law, including Medicare prospective payment systems, Medicare telehealth payment rules, Medicaid managed care regulations, and Medicaid federal-state financing rules.

Ms. Gopalan began her legal career as a clerk for the Honorable John M. Rogers of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She then practiced with a large Washington, DC law firm primarily in the areas of health care and federal-state programs. She has also served as a Medicare and Medicaid policy analyst for the federal Congressional Research Service.

Ms. Gopalan understands her clients’ reliance on federal funds demands far more than a narrow legal understanding of specific programs; effective counsel requires a comprehensive understanding of the policy framework on which Medicaid and federal grant programs are founded. She is driven to apply her experience with these programs to resolve the complex issues faced by her clients.

Representative Matters

  • Advises national associations of health care providers concerning the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) implementation of new Medicare and Medicaid payment methodologies.
  • Advises providers and associations on recent changes in the law, including evolving telehealth requirements and requirements under the federal No Surprises Act.
  • On behalf of a provider, prevailed in a State administrative appeal of Medicaid rate-setting decision.
  • On behalf of a public agency, negotiated a favorable settlement with a federal agency in a matter involving federal-State cost allocation rules.
  • Obtained favorable settlement on behalf of a group of eight health care providers in federal and state court litigation concerning Medicaid reimbursement.
  • Advised major urban governments on Medicaid financing issues, including localities’ role in Medicaid administrative claiming and financing of the nonfederal share.
  • Advised consortium of public health organizations on lobbying restrictions under federal grants administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Honors/Awards

  • Selected to the Washington, DC, Super Lawyers “Rising Stars” list – Health Care Law (2014)

Published Works

  • Susannah Vance Gopalan, Co-Author, Legal Limits and Policy Merits of Routine Periodic Rebasing in Medicare PPS Methodologies, J. Health and Life Sci. L. (March 2021)
  • Susannah Vance Gopalan, Harvey Tettlebaum, & Camille Lockhart, Strings Attached: Compliance for Long Term Care Facilities In Using Funds From the COVID-19 Provider Relief Fund, AHLA’s Speaking of Health Law Podcast (June 2020)
  • Susannah Vance Gopalan, Dianne Pledgie & William E. “Bill” Hopkins, Compliance and Ethics Programs in Nursing Facilities: Overcoming Policy Uncertainty and Logistical Challenges to Build an Effective Program, AHLA Connections (March 2020)
  • Susannah Vance Gopalan, Co-Author, A Change in Federal Policy Allows Access to Preventive and Primary Health Care Services, Network for Public Health Law Blog (June 2015)
  • Susannah Vance Gopalan, Premium Assistance Programs in Medicaid: All Eyes on Upcoming CMS Waiver Decisions, Bloomberg BNA Health Care Policy Report (November 2013)
  • Susannah Vance Gopalan, Co-Author, Medicaid Expansion is on the Way: Recent Regulatory and Policy Activities Impacting Your Health Center, Community Health Forum (Spring/Summer 2013)
  • Susannah Vance Gopalan, Co-Author, HHS Seeks to Delegate Key “Essential Benefits” Coverage Decision to States, Bloomberg Law Reports, Health Law Report (February 2012)
  • Susannah C. Vance, An Enduring Fear: Recent Limitations on the Past Persecution Ground for Asylum, 91 Ky. L. J. 957 (2003)

Previous Experience

  • Congressional Research Service, Analyst in Health Care Financing (2016-2018)
  • Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, Attorney for Access to Justice (2008-2010)
  • Covington & Burling LLP, Associate (2005-2008)
Susannah Vance Gopalan, Partner

Education

  • J.D., University of Kentucky College of Law, magna cum laude, Order of the Coif (2004)
  • M.I.A., Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, FLAS Fellowship (2000)
  • B.A., Columbia University, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, The Bunner Award (1996)

Law Journals

  • Member, Kentucky Law Journal

Clerkships

  • Law Clerk for the Honorable John M. Rogers, U.S. Court of Appeals of the Sixth Circuit

Bar/Court Admissions

  • District of Columbia
  • Kentucky (non-practice CLE exemption)
  • North Carolina
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
  • U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

Professional Memberships / Affiliations

  • American Health Law Association
  • American Health Law Association, Post Acute and Long Term Services Practice Group, Leadership Development Program (2019-2020)
  • D.C. Bar