Skip to Main Content.

Industries

Practices

Solutions

Biography

Darren Skyles is a member actively involved in Frost Brown Todd’s (FBT) Health Care Innovation Team. Practicing in the FBT Houston office, Darren remains closely networked with a strong health care community of hospitals, physicians, and other health care providers and has broad and deep knowledge in health care legal matters, including regulatory issues, compliance, operational matters, corporate transactions, fraud and abuse, privacy and security, medical staff issues, governmental entity laws, and litigation.

Prior to joining FBT, Darren served as the Vice President of Legal Affairs at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, and he practiced in the health care practice group at several major Texas law firms. In private practice, Darren oversaw the legal, compliance, and regulatory affairs of two health care systems which grew, during his representation and oversight, into significantly larger health care systems. Before practicing law, Darren served as a director in the Division of Public Affairs of The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Other Info About Darren

Experience

Legal Work Highlights

Counseled three large health care systems on health care regulatory matters in the areas of Stark, Anti-Kickback, and HIPAA as well as hospital and physician operational matters.

Negotiated and formed several health care partnerships which included drafting corporate and transactional documents and due diligence review, including a Management Service Organization to administer an urgent care practice, a joint venture between a hospital and orthopedic practice to own a surgery center, and a clinically integrated network involving community health care providers.

Represented hospitals and physicians in physician employment and physician recruitment agreements.

Counseled Academic Medical Center on its efforts in moving its clinical research toward commercial realization.

Counseled software start-up company on its business marketing plan and its legal position during its evolution toward the market.

Education

Law School

University of Houston, J.D., 2004

Undergraduate School

University of Houston, B.A., English, 1991, magna cum laude

Bar Memberships

Darren is licensed to practice in the following state(s):

Texas, 2005

Professional Affiliations

Professional Affiliations & Memberships

Texas State Bar

American Health Law Association

Houston Bar Association

Presentations

Darren was invited to speak at the following events:

“Navigating the Intersection of Industry and the Law:  Essential Legal Knowledge for Healthcare Executives, Critical Legal Issues in the Healthcare Industry,” National Association of Health Service Executives (NAHSE) (June 2021)

“False Claims and Whistleblowers: Best Practices to Avoid Significant Exposure,” Frost Brown Todd Webinar (May 2021)

“Overview of Legal Affairs Counsel and Services, with Focus on Risk Management,” Presentation to Physician and Medical Support Staff, UTMB (May 2019)

“The Legal and Practical Aspects of Physician Recruitment–A Case Study,” Presentation to the American Health Lawyers Association Physicians and Hospitals Law Institute (February 2016)

Major Publications

Darren is an author or contributor to the following publications:

Co-Author: “Clinically integrated networks and the Triple Aim: better health care, reduced costs,” Reuters Legal News, January 6, 2022, with Brian Higgins

Related Insights