Faculty and Administration Profiles

Shawn Mathis

About

Shawn Mathis resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she has a boutique law practice focused on providing affordable legal services to health care professionals, businesses that deliver health care and social services, and advocacy organizations representing these direct care providers.

Prior to starting her own health law practice in New Mexico, she spent five years as a Staff Attorney for the New Mexico Legislative Council Service. During that time, she staffed the interim Legislative Health and Human Services Committee and its Disabilities Concerns and Behavioral Health subcommittees. In that capacity, she conducted research and drafted legislation for members of the New Mexico Legislature, acquiring experience in a broad range of topics, including: the licensing and regulation of health care practitioners and facilities; state and federal fraud, waste and abuse laws and regulations; state and federal health insurance programs; private health insurance; telehealth and telemedicine; health care credentialing; medical cannabis; health care tort reform; managed care contracting; health care employment contracts; health information technology; health care privacy; reimbursement for health care services; long-term care; continuing care retirement communities; state and local government health care and hospital financing. 

Upon leaving government service, Shawn practiced with the health law group of Montgomery & Andrews, defending medical practices and nursing homes in False Claims Act litigation, providing legal advice to medical practices on New Mexico’s medical cannabis program, and defending health care practitioners before licensing boards.

Before her legislative work, Shawn was in private practice for thirty years in Texas, Illinois and Alaska representing clients in heavily regulated industries. This included nearly a decade as in-house counsel managing litigation for two Fortune 500 companies.   Areas of emphasis included: complex toxic tort and personal injury litigation; commercial and environmental litigation; insurance coverage and defense litigation; and corporate compliance and governance.

In 2010, Shawn returned to law school to pursue an LL.M. in Health Law. From 2010 through 2011, she was an LL.M. Fellow at Loyola University Chicago School of Law’s Beazley Institute of Health Law and Policy.  Since receiving her Health Law LL.M. in 2011, she has been an adjunct professor in Loyola’s online Health Law LL.M. program, which is rated among the top health law programs in the nation.

Shawn has authored several works in the area of health law: “Closing in on Health-Care Associated Infections in the Ambulatory Surgical Center,” published by The Journal of Legal Medicine https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01947648.2012.739057; “Legal Responsibility and Accountability for Healthcare-Associated Infections in the ASC,” published in the American Bar Association Health Law Section’s The Health Lawyer;  “The Role of the Board of Directors in Advancing Patient Safety,” (co-author) chapter in the second edition of the Patient Safety Handbook, published by Jones & Bartlett. Most recently, she co-authored a chapter of the Oxford Handbook of U.S. Health Law, “The Hospital-Physician Relationship.” 

She has also appeared before the New Mexico Interim Legislative Health and Human Services Committee on healthcare associated infections in ambulatory surgical centers https://www.nmlegis.gov/handouts/LHHS%20081312%20Item%200%20Healthcare%20Associated%20Infections%20in%20ASCs.pdf and on the regulation of boarding homes https://www.nmlegis.gov/handouts/LHHS%20070616%20Item%201%20a%20Shawn%20Mathis,%20LCS,%20Boarding%20Homes%20Memorandum.pdf

Shawn continues to work closely with policy makers and provider advocacy organizations on legislation of interest to providers and consumers.

Degrees

BA, University of Texas
JD, University of Houston
LLM, Loyola University Chicago School of Law

Program Areas

LLM Thesis Project

Courses Taught

Introduction to Health Law and Policy
Thesis

Selected Publications

John D. Blum and Shawn R. Mathis, Forgotten on the Frontlines: The Plight of Direct Care Workers During COVID-19, 98 U. Det. Mercy L. Rev. 325 (Spring 2021).

Shawn Mathis, Unsubstantiated  “Credible Allegations of Fraud” Pose a High Risk to Medicaid Providers: A Lesson From New Mexico, Journal of Health Care Finance (Summer 2021), https://www.healthfinancejournal.com/~junland/index.php/johcf/article/view/261