Erin R. Sclar

Erin Sclar focuses her practice on matters affecting counties, safety net hospitals and health centers, behavioral health organizations, disability service organizations, large health systems, and health care associations. Her long involvement in public health predates her legal career, with an extensive policy and advocacy background informing her current practice, especially regarding Medicaid payment rates and disputes.

Providers receive well-researched and actionable guidance from Erin, who understands that her answers and counsel directly impact their abilities to deliver care to patients. She helps her clients navigate the unique legal framework and practical realities that impact the health care work of county governments, public health care districts, and other providers receiving public funds. This includes extensive experience with Medicaid and Medi-Cal reimbursement and audit issues, behavioral health policy development and funding, and the application of the Americans with Disabilities Act and state disability rights laws. Erin also has deep experience with the California Emergency Medical Services Act and advising clients regarding the provision of exclusive ambulance services. Erin is actively involved in litigation in federal and California state court, including responding to requests for temporary restraining orders and other emergency motions.

Prior to attending law school, Erin worked in diverse health care advocacy and policy roles, including founding a consulting practice focused on Medicaid advocacy in Florida, teaching policy to social work graduate students at the University of South Florida, and serving as a legislative affairs associate for a national hospital trade association in Washington, D.C.

Erin’s subsequent academic career was equally focused on health policy. In law school, she served as a judicial extern in the Northern District of California, was a research fellow at the UCSF/UC Hastings Consortium on Law, Science, and Health Policy, and was a legal intern for the Harvard Law School Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation. She graduated summa cum laude and Order of the Coif from UC College of the Law San Francisco (fka University of California, Hastings College of the Law) and served as the president of the law school’s Health Law Organization.

Representative Experience

• Successfully briefed and argued opposition to an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order on behalf of a county regarding provision of health care and behavioral health services.
• Secured district court and appellate victories in the Eleventh Circuit for a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in a major Medicaid reimbursement dispute that has significant implications for providers seeking to challenge state Medicaid agencies (Family Health Centers of Southwest Florida, Inc. v. Secretary, Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (11th Cir., Apr. 22, 2025, No. 23-10992) 2025 WL 1171609).
• Represented counties in litigation regarding ambulance service provision and issues under the California Emergency Medical Services Act, including obtaining favorable rulings in the California Court of Appeal (American Medical Response of Inland Empire v. County of San Bernardino (2025) 117 Cal.App.5th 856; City of Oxnard v. Cnty. of Ventura (2021) 71 Cal.App.5th 1010), the Ninth Circuit (American Medical Response of Inland Empire v. County of San Bernardino (9th Cir., Apr. 30, 2025, No. 24-3195) 2025 WL 1249445), and the District Court of the Central District of California (American Medical Response of Inland Empire v. County of San Bernardino (C.D. Cal., Apr. 19, 2024, No. EDCV 24-0267-KK-SPX) 2024 WL 1714282).