Melinda Dutton serves as a partner within the healthcare division of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, and also plays a leadership role within Manatt Health Solutions, an interdisciplinary policy and business advisory practice within the firm. Ms. Dutton’s practice concentrates on advising clients in the healthcare industry with respect to regulatory, public policy and business matters.
Ms. Dutton has extensive experience working with public health insurance programs and the healthcare safety net, and represents a broad array of healthcare clients in navigating the legal, regulatory and political challenges of the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, CHIP and other public programs. Ms. Dutton advises foundations, state governments and provider groups on the implications of federal health reform. She has provided counsel to state health reform implementation engagements in multiple states, including North Carolina, Maryland, New York, New Hampshire, California and Missouri. Ms. Dutton serves as an advisor to the RWJ State Health Reform Assistance Network where she provides technical assistance to ten states on issues related to Medicaid and Exchange implementation. She is also Project Director for the CMS Medicaid and CHIP Learning Collaborative and co-leads the Expanding Coverage and Basic Health Plan Learning Collaboratives. Ms. Dutton also serves as an advisor to the Atlantic Philanthropies Children and Youth Programme, where she provides strategic and operational support to the KidsWell Campaign. In addition, Ms. Dutton directs Manatt’s multidisciplinary team of consultants conducting state tracking of health reform implementation efforts.
Ms. Dutton has been engaged in a wide variety of projects involving use of health information technology to improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare. She has supported statewide, multi-stakeholder health information exchange planning efforts in several states. She served as an adviser to New York State on the Health Information Privacy and Security Collaboration, where she identified laws, policies and business practices that support the private and secure exchange of health information, and has assisted states in developing strategic and operational plans to support both statewide health information exchange and implementation of Medicaid incentives under HITECH.
Prior to joining Manatt Ms. Dutton served for nine years at the Children’s Defense Fund in New York, where she helped develop and secure passage of legislation expanding publicly funded health insurance programs for children. Ms. Dutton started her legal career at South Brooklyn Legal Services, where she helped establish a health law practice serving low-income populations.
Ms. Dutton has served as a guest lecturer for numerous health law and policy courses at colleges and universities, including New York University School of Law, Columbia Law School and New York Medical College, and she has served as a practitioner-in-residence at Saint Louis University School of Law, the top-ranked healthcare law program in the country.
