Balch & Bingham Expands Health Law Practice with Addition of Samarria Munnerlyn Dunson

Balch & Bingham is pleased to welcome Samarria Dunson to the firm’s Montgomery office as of counsel in its Health Law Practice.

Samarria has more than 15 years of experience providing counsel on all aspects of compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) with a broad range of health care providers, including hospitals, freestanding health care providers and individual physicians. She works with both covered entities and business associates on all aspects of privacy and security compliance to develop and conduct tailored workforce training programs, policy and procedure reviews and revisions, risk assessments and business associate contract negotiation and review.  In addition to her comprehensive knowledge of HIPAA and HITECH, Samarria has experience in administrative law and healthcare facility regulation.

She is a frequent contributor to the Medical Association for the State of Alabama’s Rotunda and Alabama Medicine publications, authoring regular updates and articles on HIPPA-related compliance.

“Samarria has a solid understanding of the healthcare industry and proven success in representing clients in HIPAA-related compliance issues.  She is a tremendous addition to the firm’s healthcare team and we look forward to working alongside her,” said Riley Roby, Montgomery office managing partner.

Samarria previously served as the HIPAA Privacy Officer for the Alabama Department of Public Health for more than a decade and also served as an assistant general counsel for the agency primarily responsible for the regulation of healthcare facilities. She created the agency’s first Office of Compliance and Ethics and advised the agency on healthcare regulatory matters.

An active member of the Montgomery community, Samarria serves as a board member to the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, the Baptist Health Foundation, and the Federal Defender’s Program.  She is also a member of the Alabama Department of Human Resources Quality Assurance Committee.

Samarria earned her J.D. from The University of Alabama School of Law in 2003.  She also has a Certification in Health Care Compliance (CHC) and Certification in Health Care Privacy Compliance (CHPC) from the Health Care Compliance Association. In addition to her work at Balch, Samarria maintains her own law practice, The Dunson Group, LLC.