Emily L. Brinkman

Emily L. Brinkman has over 20 years of experience as a litigator and 12 years specifically advising healthcare providers and helping them comply with regulatory issues in the state of California. She joined Hooper, Lundy & Bookman near the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Since then, she has helped hospitals navigate the pandemic by conducting legal research and answering their concerns on various issues such as religious exemptions for vaccination mandates, how to deal with COVID positive providers, and physician behavioral issues.

Emily has extensive experience litigating medical staff cases on behalf of hospitals throughout California. She collaborates with medical staff directors and other executives to manage issues regarding physician credentialing and privileging. Emily has represented medical staff in complex, multi-day hearings involving issues ranging from inappropriate behavior towards patients, to quality of care issues that result in disciplinary actions, from suspension to termination of privileges/credentials. Emily has also advised medical staff clients on peer review matters, credentialing of ambulatory surgical centers and providers in hospital clinics, responding to Medical Board subpoenas and request for interviews of hospital staff. She advises licensed medical providers on the legal reporting requirements to the Medical Board and National Practitioner Data Bank, including representing providers following allegations of failing to report. She also advises her medical staff clients about the impact of peer review privilege under Evidence Code 1157 as it relates to civil lawsuits and the Medical Board, including the impact of protections to confidentiality of Physician Well Being Committees.

Emily’s experience includes working as a Deputy Attorney General in the Health Quality Enforcement Section and the Correctional Law Section of the California Attorney General’s Office. In her role as Deputy Attorney General in the Health Quality Enforcement section, she represented several health care licensing boards, such as the California Medical Board, Podiatric Medical Board of California, and Board of Psychology, in disciplinary actions against licensed providers. She also advised the licensing boards about investigations before bringing disciplinary action and provided training to other attorneys within the Health Quality Enforcement section. She started her legal career as a deputy district attorney, and has litigation experience in criminal, civil, and administrative hearings in both state and federal courts.

Besides advising medical staffs, using her 8 years of experience in representing the health care licensing boards, Emily also represents individual licensed providers before their respective licensing boards, from advising and assisting with the investigation to the disciplinary hearing itself. She assists in the application process of individuals seeking licensure, including post graduate training licenses and petitions for reinstatement.