Elizabeth L. Dalton

Of Counsel, Industry Group Leader

Bio Menu
  • Overview
  • Experience
  • Honors & Involvement
Bio overview

Elizabeth L. Dalton’s practice includes corporate, securities and franchise law with emphasis on issues relating to the healthcare industry for both taxable and tax-exempt clients. She represents clients in a wide range of business transactions, including organization, acquisitions and mergers, secured and unsecured lending, and business contracts. A significant portion of her practice consists of advising physicians, hospitals and other providers on regulatory and transactional matters affecting the healthcare industry, including development of facilities, certificates of need and licensing, affiliations and joint ventures, reimbursement, Medicare and other payer audits and appeals, physician compensation arrangements, antitrust, Stark law/physician self-referral restrictions, fraud and abuse, and anti-kickback laws.

Elizabeth serves as leader of the firm’s Medical Marijuana Industry Group and has previously served on the firm’s board of directors and as leader of the firm’s Healthcare Group.

Her experience and expertise have earned her inclusion in Chambers USA Guide to America’s Leading Lawyers for BusinessThe Best Lawyers in America (antitrust law; business organizations; corporate governance law; corporate law; franchise law; health care law; non-profit/charities law) and Oklahoma Super Lawyers, where she has been named to the list of “Top 25 Women Lawyers” each year since the magazine’s debut in 2006. She was selected by Best Lawyers as the “Oklahoma City Franchise Lawyer of the Year” for 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2023, “Oklahoma City Health Care Lawyer of the Year” for 2010, “Oklahoma City Business Organizations Lawyer of the Year” for 2015, Oklahoma City Corporate Lawyer of the Year” for 2017 and 2020, and “Oklahoma City Corporate Governance Lawyer of the Year” for 2021, honors given to a single lawyer in each legal specialty in each market.

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Experience, Honors, & Awards

Representative Experience

  • Represented a large healthcare company in reorganizing and simplifying its capitalization and organizational structure through a series of mergers and other related transactions including, among other things, a private securities offering and amendment of existing credit facility.
  • Structured integration of several physician group practices with hospitals to create provider-based clinics and free-standing facilities.
  • Negotiated and structured joint venture among four hospitals (two of which were owned by major hospital systems) to create a specialty hospital.
  • Assisting physicians and other healthcare providers in forming joint ventures to develop imaging facilities, sleep labs, clinical laboratories, physical therapy centers and other healthcare facilities.
  • Representing hospitals, physicians and other healthcare providers in drafting and negotiating professional services contracts, recruitment agreements, lease agreements, service agreements and employment contracts.
  • Ongoing representation of several physician-owned hospitals.
  • Assisted significant national charity in streamlining organization through series of mergers to create regional divisions.
  • Represented various physicians and physician group practices in connection with False Claims Act lawsuits, overpayments, audits and appeals.
  • Represented hospital in connection with Department of Justice’s national enforcement initiative regarding Medicare billing for implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs), coordinating experts to defend hospital practices and compliance department to implement proactive procedures to ensure regulatory conformity.
  • Represented manufacturer and national wholesale food distributor in establishment and ongoing operations of franchise systems.

 

Honors and Awards

  • Listed in the Chambers USA Guide to America’s Leading Lawyers for Business
  • Selected by peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America (antitrust law; business organizations; corporate governance law; corporate law; franchise law; health care law; non-profit/charities law)
  • Named “Oklahoma City Franchise Lawyer of the Year” for 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2023,  “Oklahoma City Health Care Lawyer of the Year” for 2010, “Oklahoma City Business Organizations Lawyer of the Year” for 2015, “Oklahoma City Corporate Lawyer of the Year” for 2017 and 2020, and “Oklahoma City Corporate Governance Lawyer of the Year” for 2021 by The Best Lawyers in America
  • Listed in Oklahoma Super Lawyers
  • Named to Oklahoma Super Lawyers’ list of “Top 25 Women Lawyers”
  • Rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Ratings
  • Named by The Journal Record as a “Fifty Making a Difference” honoree and finalist for “Woman of the Year” honors (2008 and 2013)
  • Honored with The Journal Record’s Leadership in Law Award, recognizing legal professionals for their professional and civic contributions to the state (2007)

Professional Organizations and Memberships

  • Oklahoma County Bar Association
  • Oklahoma Bar Association (Former Chair, Health Law Section)
  • American Bar Association (Health Law Section; Business Law Section; Forum on Franchising)
  • Oklahoma Health Lawyers Association (Past Member, Board of Directors)
  • American Health Law Association
  • William J. Holloway, Jr. American Inn of Court (Master of the Bench)

Civic Involvement and Leadership

  • OKC Beautiful (Past President)
  • Upward Transitions (Advisory Board; Past President)
  • Lynn Institute for Healthcare Research, Inc. (Secretary, Board Member)
  • Planned Parenthood of Central Oklahoma (Past Member, Board of Development)
  • Leadership Oklahoma City (Class XXIII)
  • Rotary Club of Oklahoma City

ATPs display in this column

At The Podium

Fraud and Abuse Update

Annual Checkup: Healthcare Industry Seminar 2022
Oklahoma City, OK | April 27, 2022

Healthcare Year in Review

Annual Checkup: Healthcare Industry Seminar 2019
Oklahoma City, OK | May 8, 2019

Medical Marijuana Business Issues and Risks

OSCPA Banking & Industry Symposium
Oklahoma City, OK | April 18, 2019

Commercial Medical Marijuana Licenses – Legal Issues

Oklahoma Cannabis: A Day of Learning
Oklahoma City, OK | January 15, 2019

Medical Marijuana Business Issues and Risks

2018 Corporate Counsel Seminar
Oklahoma City, OK | December 6, 2018

Medical Marijuana Business Issues and Risks

2018 Corporate Counsel Seminar
Tulsa, OK | December 4, 2018

#MeToo in the O.R.

Healthcare Headlines Seminar
Tulsa, OK | March 29, 2018

#MeToo in the O.R.

Healthcare Headlines Seminar
Oklahoma City, OK | March 27, 2018

OIG’s Prescription for Effective Governance

What’s Hot in Healthcare 2017 Webinar
Online | May 10, 2017

OIG’s Prescription for Effective Governance

What’s Hot in Healthcare 2017 Seminar
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma | March 22, 2017

Make Sure You Get to Keep the Money You Earned: How to Avoid Recoupment and Investigation

Oklahoma State Medical Association CME Mini Series VIII
Oklahoma City, OK | October 28, 2016

Practitioners Behaving Badly

Spring Cleaning; Healthcare Industry Luncheon 2016
Oklahoma City, OK | March 30, 2016

Dr. DPC or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying (and Billing) and Love Primary Care

PLICO EXPLORE: Oklahoma Healthcare Summit 2015
Norman, Oklahoma | August 13, 2015

Drugs, critters and disease in the workplace

Headaches in the Healthcare Workplace Seminar
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma | April 30, 2015

Stark Reality — Navigating the requirements for fair market value in physician compensation arrangements

McAfee & Taft Healthcare Industry Webinar
Online | June 25, 2014

Advanced Stark and AKS Compliance: Case Studies and Hypotheticals

Oklahoma Bar Association Annual Meeting
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma | November 13, 2013

Healthcare Industry Regulatory Compliance: Recent Events

Oklahoma Society of CPAs' Fall Industry Conference
Midwest City, Oklahoma | September 23, 2011

Updates on Stark FMV and Commercial Reasonableness, Overpayments and False Claims

Healthcare Luncheon Seminar: Vital Signs
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma | September 14, 2011, 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM

Healthcare Industry Regulatory Compliance

Unity Health Center
Shawnee, Oklahoma | March 3, 2011

What Your Hospital and Physician Clients Need to Know About the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act

Oklahoma Bar Association Webcast
May 12, 2010, 12:00 PM

Physician Options After the New Healthcare Reform

Physician Hospitals of America Meeting
May 6, 2010 - May 7, 2010

RAC and Other Government Audits

Healthcare Luncheon Seminar: Responding to Economic and Reimbursement Challenges
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma | October 9, 2009
Attorney Articles

Articles

Dispensary sign

Franchising cannabis businesses

McAfee & Taft MarijuanaLINC |
Healthcare worker testing patient for COVID-19
new medical marijuana rules

Governor signs Unity Bill regulating medical marijuana in Oklahoma

McAfee & Taft MarijuanaLINC |
Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority processing online applications

Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority begins processing applications

McAfee & Taft MarijuanaLINC |
medical marijuana business

Governor approves OSDH’s revised medical marijuana regulations

McAfee & Taft MarijuanaLINC |

Medical marijuana rulemaking:
A chance to get it right this time

McAfee & Taft MarijuanaLINC |

Obtaining commercial licenses for medical marijuana in Oklahoma

McAfee & Taft Business Alert |

Selecting EHR Vendors: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

McAfee & Taft Healthcare Update |

Supreme Court ruling potentially expands false claims liability for healthcare providers

McAfee & Taft Healthcare Alert |

OIG rules hospital’s offer of free transportation, lodging doesn’t violate anti-kickback statute

McAfee & Taft Healthcare Alert |

Hospital-Physician Alignment

McAfee & Taft Healthcare Industry Legal Update |

Physician Compensation Arrangements Under the Stark Law: Deciphering Fair Market Value, Commercial Reasonableness and the ‘Takes into Account’ Prohibition

Oklahoma Bar Journal — Vol. 86, No. 2 |

CMS authorizes contractors to deny ‘related’ claims of physicians who are not undergoing review

McAfee & Taft Healthcare Industry Alert |

OIG rejects management arrangement that carves out federal healthcare program patients

McAfee & Taft Healthcare Industry Alert |

Court rules employers who provide services to federal government employees subject to federal contracting regulations

McAfee & Taft Healthcare Industry Alert |

OIG advisory opinion describes suspect ‘under arrangements’ transactions

McAfee & Taft Healthcare Industry Alert |
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Admissions

  • Oklahoma, 1985
  • U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma
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Education

  • J.D., Southern Methodist University, 1985
    • Order of the Coif; Phi Delta Phi; Editor, Journal of Air Law and Commerce
  • B.A. (Economics), University of Virginia, 1981
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In The News

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Best Lawyers names 20 McAfee & Taft attorneys 2021 ‘Lawyers of the Year’ in 21 practice areas

Chambers USA 2020 honors McAfee & Taft as top-ranked firm, 32 attorneys singled out for individual honors

Oklahoma Super Lawyers honors 101 McAfee & Taft attorneys in 2019 edition

Chambers USA 2019 honors McAfee & Taft as top‑ranked firm

Oklahoma Super Lawyers honors 113 McAfee & Taft attorneys in 2018 edition

Medical marijuana dispensaries a ways off

The Oklahoman |

The Best Lawyers in America names 107 McAfee & Taft attorneys to 2019 edition

Chambers USA 2018 honors McAfee & Taft as top-ranked firm, 35 attorneys singled out for individual honors

Warrantless blood alcohol testing is mostly illegal

The Oklahoman |

Best Lawyers names 11 McAfee & Taft attorneys 2018 ‘Lawyers of the Year’ in 12 practice areas

The Best Lawyers in America names 102 McAfee & Taft attorneys to 2018 edition

Chambers USA 2017 honors McAfee & Taft as top-ranked firm, 39 McAfee & Taft attorneys as leading lawyers for business

Best Lawyers names 21 McAfee & Taft attorneys 2017 ‘Lawyers of the Year’ in 22 practice areas

Chambers USA 2016 honors McAfee & Taft as top-ranked firm, 41 firm attorneys as leading lawyers

Medicare, Medicaid patients get limited free hospital services

The Oklahoman |

Best Lawyers names 17 McAfee & Taft attorneys as 2016 ‘Lawyer of the Year’ in 18 categories

Frank Hill and Elizabeth Dalton Named 2010 Oklahoma City ‘Lawyers of the Year’

Elizabeth Dalton Elected President of Travelers Aid and Homeless Assistance Center

Five McAfee & Taft Attorneys Named Leadership in Law Honorees

The Journal Record |

McAfee & Taft Elects Elizabeth Dalton to Board of Directors