Stephanie P. Hales

Representative matters have included:

• Advocacy with Congress and federal agencies in connection with Medicare, Medicaid, 340B Program, and Affordable Care Act issues and developments, including high-priority legislative proposals and regulatory actions.
• Representation in connection with a broad range of Medicare national and local coverage determination policies, including analyzing and preparing comments to proposed national coverage policies and draft local coverage determinations, as well as developing and advancing reconsideration requests and challenges to existing policies at the agency level and through administrative litigation.
• Assistance with 340B Program compliance matters, policies and procedures reviews and audits. 
• Successful applications and related advocacy to secure New Technology Add-on Payments (NTAP) for innovative new products under the Medicare Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System. 
• Successful applications and related advocacy to establish new and/or revised coding under the Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS), the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code set, and the ICD-10 code sets.
• Developing, drafting, and filing regulatory comments; preparing and delivering presentations to federal agencies; and collaborating with other stakeholders regarding proposals and policies affecting coverage, coding, reimbursement, and compliance issues under various federal and state healthcare laws, programs, and regulations.
• Analysis and advice in connection with new product launches and pipeline product development, including risks and opportunities for coverage, coding, and payment; pricing and price reporting considerations; and other issues affecting market access and regulatory requirements for new drugs, biologicals, devices, durable medical equipment, clinical laboratory and diagnostic tests, and other healthcare items and services.

Before joining the firm, Stephanie served as a law clerk to the Honorable Diane P. Wood of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (2007–2008 term). She graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 2007. During law school, she was an executive editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review and an advocate, shift supervisor, and board member for the Custody & Support Assistance Clinic at Philadelphia Legal Assistance, a family law clinic where a number of cases involved providing support and services to individuals and families experiencing domestic violence and abuse.

While completing her law degree, Stephanie also earned a Master of Biomedical Ethics (M.B.E.) from the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy (formerly the Center for Bioethics) based in the in Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Representative pro bono matters have included:

• Representation and negotiation of a favorable settlement for an individual challenging denial of coverage for a specific benefit under the client’s Medicaid insurance.
• Working with Disability Rights Maryland (DRM), successful advocacy for a statewide regulatory change resulting in codification of Maryland Medicaid coverage of hearing aids, cochlear implants, and related services for adults. In 2019, Stephanie received DRM’s Breaking Barriers Legal Advocacy Award on behalf of the Sidley team that worked in collaboration with DRM on this matter.
• Public policy advice, strategic counseling, legislative and regulatory analysis, and advocacy work for leading national nonprofit patient advocacy organizations and coalitions representing patients with rare, serious, and/or chronic conditions.
• Co-authorship of five briefs filed in the U.S. Supreme Court, addressing various criminal justice and civil rights issues — such as, for example, in United States v. Windsor, representing as amici two former Secretaries of Defense, many other retired military leaders, former U.S. Senators and Representatives, and veterans’ organizations who filed a brief in support of Ms. Windsor’s successful constitutional challenge to Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act.
• Assistance to a nonprofit healthcare clinic with review, analysis, revision, and further development of compliance policies, procedures, training presentations, and related materials.
• Ongoing representation of a client on death row in Alabama to challenge his death sentence, as part of Sidley’s Capital Litigation Project.
• Successful representation of an individual with HIV and diabetes who appealed denial of SSI/SSD benefits, including an award of back benefits as well as well as benefits going forward.

In 2020, Stephanie received the District of Columbia Bar Association’s Laura N. Rinaldi Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year award, which the D.C. Bar presents to a lawyer for excellence, achievement, and commitment to providing legal services to D.C.’s low income and/or disadvantaged individuals and/or organizations serving such individuals.

• Stephanie serves on the Board of Directors for Whitman-Walker Health clinic and is Secretary of the Board and Chair of the Audit & Compliance Committee. Stephanie also serves on the Board of Directors for Pathways to Housing DC and is Chair of its Governance Committee. She serves as Chair of the Advisory Board for DC’s Children’s Law Center (CLC) and as a member of CLC’s Board of Directors. Additionally, Stephanie serves on the Board of Directors for Network for Victim Recovery of DC (NVRDC) and is an adviser to the Board for the Autoimmune Association.
• Stephanie is a member of Sidley’s Pro Bono and Public Interest Law Committee and is a member and former co-chair of the Washington, DC chapter of SidleyWomen, a committee focused on the retention and promotion of women lawyers at Sidley. She is also a former firmwide co-chair of Sidley’s Committee on Summer Associate Programs and a former co-chair of the Washington, DC chapter of Sidley’s Committee on Summer Associate Programs.
• Stephanie is a member of the ABA’s Health Law Section and Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice Section.