Overview
Sharon Peters is an experienced health care regulatory practitioner, management-side employment lawyer, and strategic thinker who delivers practical, cost-effective solutions that align with clients’ objectives.
Hospitals, health systems, and other health care providers turn to Sharon for advice on medical staff and peer review, personnel issues, and state and federal regulatory compliance. She provides counsel regarding challenging patient and workforce issues, including difficult discharges, workplace violence prevention and response, consent for treatment and health care decision-making, state and federal administrative investigations of alleged discrimination or privacy breaches, policy drafting and revisions, and various other provider operations. Sharon is committed to guiding Catholic and faith-based health systems through a complex regulatory world consistent with her clients’ mission and ethical directives.
Additionally, hospitals and physician leadership seek Sharon’s advice concerning medical staff, credentialing, peer review, and quality improvement issues. She also drafts and revises medical staff governance documents and provides counsel to clients during medical staff proceedings, from early in the proceedings through fair hearings.
Besides her health work, Sharon has a robust management-side employment practice. She advises and defends employers on a wide range of employment law issues, including disability accommodations, leaves of absence, discrimination and harassment, restrictive covenants, wage and hour, terminations, and federal and state law compliance. She also conducts workplace investigations and implements creative and effective employment policies and practices.
In both the health care and employment law settings, Sharon is a trusted advisor and problem solver, always investigating ways to resolve and avoid risk. When litigation cannot be avoided, she approaches the case aggressively, with attention to detail and the objective of preventing a trial by securing an early dismissal. Her early investigative and crisis management strategies help clients manage or avert altogether liability exposure and media scrutiny that can tarnish their reputation.
Sharon is a frequent speaker who enjoys working with clients to develop best practices for claims avoidance.
Sharon serves on Epstein Becker Green’s National Health Care and Life Sciences Steering Committee. Before joining Epstein Becker Green, she was a partner of a national law firm and a member of its Healthcare and Labor & Employment Practices.
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Focus Areas
Services
Industries
Experience
- Represented hospital medical staffs through peer review matters, including fair hearings, counsel through corrective actions, and policy revisions.
- Worked closely with the leadership of various health care systems on such challenging issues as abuse reporting and investigations; informed consent issues for minors, adults, or incapacitated patients; and end-of-life decision-making.
- Drafted various compliance opinions, including DEA regulations, Part 2, and civil commitment procedures.
- Secured a defense jury verdict in a whistleblower retaliation case in Oregon federal court for a trucking company.
- Obtained a jury verdict in a race discrimination and retaliation case in Oregon state court (Multnomah County) for a regional construction company.
- Successfully defended a local hospital through trial in a lawsuit involving a physician’s breach of an employment agreement and accompanying claims, including recovery of significant defense attorney fees for the hospital.
- Obtained summary judgment in two Oregon state employment retaliation cases based on the defense argument that timing alone is not always sufficient to support the plaintiff’s prima facie case.
Recognition
- The Best Lawyers in America, Employment Law—Management (2024 to 2025), Health Care Law (2025)
- The Legal 500 United States, Healthcare: Health Insurers (2024)
Credentials
Education
- University of Louisville School of Law (J.D., cum laude, 2001)
- University of Dayton (B.S., cum laude, 1998)
Bar Admissions
- Oregon
- Washington State
Professional & Community Involvement
- American Health Lawyers Association, Medical Staff, Credentialing, and Peer Review Practice Group
- Association of Workplace Investigators
- Maybelle Center, Board of Directors
- Oregon Association of Medical Staff Services
- Washington Association of Medical Staff Services
- Washington State Society of Healthcare Attorneys
Media
Events
Past Events
- June 10-12, 2024
- Client Seminar: I’m Not on Call, and You Can’t Make Me – Legal Requirements, Practical Considerations, and Hospital Operational Issues Related to Physician Call Coverage
- American Health Lawyers Association Physician and Hospital Institute: Ensuring Safety and Compliance During Difficult Patient EncountersFebruary 6-7, 2018
- Oregon State Bar Health Law Section CLE: To Report or Not to Report: Questions About the OMB, the NPDB, and the Health Professionals Services Program
- Washington Association of Medical Staff Services: Resolving Disputes in the Credentialing and Privileging World
- Oregon Society for Healthcare Risk Management: Advanced Behavioral Health for the Oregon Risk Manager
- Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems: Holding Patterns: Behavioral Health in Oregon 2016
- Oregon State Bar Health Law Section Annual Seminar: The Future of Telehealth Is Here: Key Legal and Compliance IssuesOctober 2015
Insights
Insights
- BlogsStates Fill Gaps in Hospital Workplace Violence Laws—Requiring Law Enforcement Officers, Weapons Detection Screening ...9 minute read
- Firm Announcements
Epstein Becker Green Attorneys Honored for Excellence in the Legal Profession by Best Lawyers 2025
14 minute read - Firm Announcements
Epstein Becker Green Receives National Recognition and Top Rankings in the 2024 Edition of Legal 500
3 minute read - BlogsOSHA’s New Walkaround Rule Potentially Grants Union Representatives Access to Safety Investigations6 minute read
- BlogsKentucky Law to Expand Assault in the Third Degree Beyond Healthcare Providers at Hospitals to Include Clinic, Dental ...4 minute read
- BlogsSCOTUS Lets National Practitioner Data Bank Safeguards Stand5 minute read
- Media CoverageSharon Peters Featured in “People on the Move”1 minute read
- Firm Announcements
Epstein Becker Green Attorneys Recognized by 2024 Best Lawyers for Excellence in the Legal Profession
12 minute read - Media Coverage
Epstein Becker Green Attorney Additions in Portland, Oregon, Featured in Law360 Pulse
2 minute read - Firm AnnouncementsEpstein Becker Green Expands into Pacific Northwest with Six-Attorney Health Care Team in Portland
- Media Coverage
Epstein Becker Green’s Portland, Oregon, Office Opening Featured in Portland Business Journal
2 minute read - Publications
State Legislative Responses to the Opioid Crisis: Leading Examples, AHLA Health and Life Science Law Journal
February 2018 - Publications
From Paper to Decision: Applying the Fair Hearing Plan to Reality, American Health Lawyers Association’s MedStaff News
Spring 2016 - Publications
Internet Background Checks: Is it Worth the Risk, Legal Management News
Spring 2015 - Publications
As Hospitals Trend Toward Employee Physicians, What Are the Employment Law Consequences? Washington Healthcare News
June 2012 - Publications
Nonsolicitation Agreements Often Replace Noncompetes, Portland Business Journal
- Publications
New Law Drastically Alters Noncompete Requirements, Portland Business Journal
- Publications
More than Just a Word, The Voice
- Publications
Good Records Can Minimize Worker Claims, Portland Business Journal