Deborah J. Williamson

Deborah J. Williamson, Founder and Managing Attorney of Williamson Health Law, PLLC, is a healthcare law attorney with over 25 years of experience representing healthcare providers, businesses, and professionals in all aspects of healthcare law.

Her practice is focused on representing hospitals, health plans, physician groups, physicians, physical therapy businesses, psychologists, and other health care providers, professionals and businesses throughout the State of Michigan and nationwide.

In her more than two decades as a lawyer, Ms. Williamson has had experience with a wide variety of matters for healthcare providers and professionals, including Medicare and Private Payer Audits and Appeals; Professional License Defense; Compliance Audits and Self-Disclosures; Compliance Programs; Business Transactions & Contracts; Stark, Anti-Kickback, and Fraud & Abuse; Regulatory Analysis; and HIPAA Breaches and Compliance. For health plans, her experience includes negotiating Pharmacy Benefit Management, Affiliation, and Vendor Agreements; drafting and advising on Medicare Advantage, Exchange, and Commercial payment policies; and advising on rebate and other arrangements with pharmaceutical companies.

In addition to advising her health care industry clients, Ms. Williamson has decades of experience working in tandem with other attorneys.  This experience includes rendering Stark and Fraud & Abuse Opinions for and consulting with and assisting business & transactional, employment, litigation, criminal defense, and other attorneys on health care regulatory and compliance issues impacting their representation of health care industry clients in a variety of matters, including: Entity Formation; Mergers, Acquisitions, and Sales; Joint Ventures; Contracts; Health Care Fraud; and Licensing Defense.

Ms. Williamson was honored as a Fellow of the State Bar of Michigan Health Care Law Section in 2018; has been listed in Best Lawyers in America since 2013, and was named Detroit Health Care Lawyer of the Year in 2022; was selected for inclusion in Michigan Super Lawyers Rising Stars in 2011 and 2012, and has been selected to Michigan Super Lawyers since 2020; and has been included in DBusiness Magazine’s list of Top Lawyers every year since in 2019.

In addition to counseling her health care clients, Ms. Williamson regularly speaks and writes on health law topics such as Stark, HIPAA, compliance, and audits, and was a co-presenter for the Institute of Continuing Legal Education’s Health Law Institute multiple years in a row (2009-2014). She has also served on the Council of the State Bar of Michigan’s Health Care Law Section since 2010 and is serving as Chair of the Health Care Law Section for the 2023-2024 term.

Ms. Williamson graduated cum laude from Western Michigan University with a bachelor’s degree. She earned her law degree magna cum laude from Michigan State University College of Law and received her license to practice law in 1997.