Experience and Commitment
The mission of Dr. Mellman’s healthcare career has always been to provide access to the highest quality care; first, during his 26 years of private practice as a board-certified neurosurgeon on a doctor-patient basis, and then, for the last ten years in policy and management on populations of patients both in the United States and abroad. Closely aligned with this mission are his concerns with the ethics of the business of healthcare and issues of social and economic justice.
He has a particular focus on systemic problems of providers that lead to adverse patient outcomes. He creates successful professional relationships through the encouragement, development and mentoring of physician and executive managerial and leadership skills. To assist in resolution of conflict in all varieties of healthcare issues, he is a qualified arbitrator and a Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Mediator.
Since 2007, Dr. Mellman has performed, pro bono, outpatient neurosurgical care of indigent patients and evaluations of persons who have been tortured and are seeking asylumin the United States. He has extensive experience with Defense and Plaintiff Medical-Legal issues, Neurosurgical Independent Medical Evaluations and Chart Reviews, including formal reports and testimony. He has active medical licenses in Florida and California.
Dr. Mellman is a change agent, a problem solver and a creator of a positive organizational culture. He offers relationship management services both to the healthcare institution and to its key partners. His technical, organizational and negotiation knowledge and skills allow him to successfully manage the complex relationship issues that are always present in the provider sector of healthcare. His background as chief medical officer at two teaching institutions, one private and the other public; his practice of neurosurgery; leadership roles on various national, state, and local committees chartered to improve access, quality, and efficiency of care; and his advanced business and public health education give him a unique multifaceted perspective on those relationship issues.
He communicates his core values and ethics. A high sense of integrity and knowing the need for civility and collegiality in a non-punitive work environment allow his personal skills in mediations, difficult conversations, conflict management and relationship building to create an appropriate atmosphere for needed change in the areas of clinical quality, patient safety and utilization of resources.
Dr. Mellman is able to speak the languages of the physician, public health and the business of healthcare. His experience allows him to connectwith physicians who are in active practice as well as with management leaders so that partnerships may be created to allow organizations to develop and implement a successful competitive strategy in the always changing socioeconomic environment. His strong sense of integrity and an ever present focus on the patient gives him credibility in the provider setting.
His relevant skill sets are demonstrated by his board certification in neurosurgery and Fellowship status in the American College of Surgeons and the American College of Healthcare Executives as well as being certified by the American Board of Independent Medical Examiners and the Health Care Compliance Board. He also is a member of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Service of the American Health Lawyers Association. He has lectured and written peer-reviewed articles on health care issues of conflict, governance and leadership.
His clinical and administrative leadership with the Hillsborough County Hospital Authority, the Hillsborough County Indigent Healthcare Plan and the Judeo Christian Indigent Health Clinic (Tampa) demonstrate his focus on access. His work as a chief medical officer and his advisory capacity with international NGOs has always centered on ethics and social and economic justice as well as the access and quality of health care.
Striving for social and economic justice His membership and work with Survivors of Torture, Physicians for Human Rights, the United Nations Association, the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Clearwater/Tampa Bay Area Task Force on Human Trafficking, and Physicians for Social Responsibility—he is a co-founder of the Tampa Bay PSR chapter and serves on the board of directors of the national organization—demonstrate his concern for societal and global issues. He examines refugees who have been tortured and who are seeking asylum in the US.
He has presented and moderated discussions of issues concerning social and economic justice, including the matter of physicians ’ role in torture. He has served as the Chief Medical Director of the Child-, Elder-, and Sexual Abuse Programs at Riverside County (California) Regional Medical Center. His intensity and determination are shown in his treks in Africa (Mt. Kenya and Mt. Kilimanjaro) and completion of marathons, such as Pike’s Peak, and triathlons, such as Alcatraz.
Dr. Mellman received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Lehigh University (1962), his MD from Hahnemann University (1966), a Master of Business Administration from the University of South Florida (1993), and a Master of Public Health from Harvard University (2001). After two years of general surgery (1966–68) at The Boston City Hospital and two years of active duty (1968–70) with the US Navy, he completed his neurosurgery training (1974) at the Hahnemann Hospital in Philadelphia, PA.
Education
- International Peace Keeping, Scuola Superiore Sant ’Anna, Pisa, Italy, 11–22 July 2005
- French immersion course, Institut de Français, Villefranche-sur-Mer, France
3–28 June 2002, 1–26 August 2005 - Harvard School of Public Health, MPH – Policy and Management concentration, June 2001
- Harvard School of Public Health July 1999 – August 1999, various courses
- University of South Florida, MBA, 1993
- Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital, residency in neurological surgery, 1970–1974
- Boston City Hospital-I (Tufts) surgical service, surgical internship,
first year of surgical residency, 1966–1968 - Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital, MD, 1966
- Lehigh University, BA Biology, 1962
Selected Seminars/Meetings Attended
- No records kept before 2003
- Harvard Negotiation Project
- Negotiation, November 2003
- Managing the Difficult Individual, November 2003
- Managing Conflict Within The Organization, November 2004
- The Difficult Business Conversation, November 2004
- Fraud and Compliance in Health Care, American Health Lawyers Association
Baltimore, 24–27 September 2006 - Congress of Neurological Surgeons, Chicago, 8–12 October 2006
- Wharton Executive Education: Bargaining For Advantage, Philadelphia, 22–27 October 2006
- Attaining Reliability in Health Care, Institute for Healthcare Improvement
San Francisco, 1–2 November 2006 - 18th Annual National Forum on Quality Improvement in Healthcare, Institute for Healthcare Improvement
Orlando, Florida, 10–13 December 2006 - American Board of Independent Medical Examiners, Orlando, Florida
- Medical Legal Issues, 2 January 2007
- Causation: What Does Science Say?, 2 January 2007
- AMA Guide to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, 5th Edition, 3–4 January 2007
- Physician Strategies Summit: Growth Strategies & Tactics, ChampionsGate
Orlando, Florida, 25–27 February 2007 - Quality of Care Compliance Conference, Health Care Compliance Association
Philadelphia, 30 September – 2 October 2007 - Physician Practice Compliance Conference, Health Care Compliance Association
Philadelphia, 3–5 October 2007 - Hospital & Physician Relations: An Executive Summit, Forum for Healthcare Strategists
Phoenix, Arizona, 21–23 October 2007 - Seventh Annual Symposium on Current Concepts in Spinal Disorders, Cedars Sinai Medical Center
Las Vegas, 1–2 February 2008 - American Health Lawyers Association Law Institute: Physicians and Physician Organizations, Hospitals and Health Systems, Orlando, Florida, 13–15 February 2008
- Spinal Pain – Conservative Treatment, American Association of Neurological Surgeons
Chicago, 25 April 2008 - Arbitration Workshop, American Health Lawyers Association, San Francisco, 29 June, 2008
- Hearing Officer Training Program, American Health Lawyers Association, San Francisco, 1 July 2008
- Advanced Mediation Techniques, American Health Lawyers Association, Chicago, 10 November 2008
Articles Published or Submitted
The Reality of the Hospital: Physician Leaders in Harm’s Way”
Physician Executive Journal, May/June 2007
Click for PDF
Negotiation: The CMO’s Indispensible Skill”
Physician Executive Journal, July/August 2007
With Edward A. Dauer, Esq.
Click for PDF
Quality and Compliance: Dual Responsibilities of the CMO”
Physician Executive Journal, May/June 2009
With Edward A. Dauer, Esq., and Rory Jaffe, MD, MBA
Click for PDF
Conflict Resolution in Healthcare Mediation As the Physician’s Treatment of Choice”
Submitted to Physician Executive Journal
With Martin J. Adelman, MD
Click for PDF
Physicians for Social Responsibility, Tampa Bay: Come Join Us”
Bulletin of the Hillsborough County Medical Association, January/February 2009
With Lynn Ringenberg, MD
Click for PDF
Whose Human Rights?”
Bulletin of the Hillsborough County Medical Association, March/April 2010
Human Trafficking”
Submitted to the Bulletin of the Hillsborough County Medical Association
With Sandra Lyth
Click for PDF
The Angry Father”
Submitted to the Bulletin of the Hillsborough County Medical Association
Concerning hospital administration and medical staff quality-of care-issues in Gaza
Click for PDF