Melinda Dutton is a Partner in 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 is also Project Director for the CMS Medicaid and CHIP Learning Collaborative and co-leads the Expanding Coverage and Basic Health Plan Learning Collaboratives. 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 at the Children’s Defense Fund in New York. 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 earned her B.A., cum laude, from Kansas State University and her J.D. from Columbia Law School.
She is a co-author of the Bloomberg BNA Health Law & Business Portfolio Series No. 2350, Affordable Care Act Implementation: Regulations, Models and Implications.