Melinda "Mendy" Richard

• Responsible for the legislative, programmatic and administrative management of the Office of Aging and Adult Services, including emergency response during disasters. Manage Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and state funded services to ensure regulatory compliance and minimize fraud, waste and abuse.
• Manage stakeholder engagement to allow individuals to remain in their homes with assistance, delaying institutionalization and reducing the cost of long term care.
• Continue to improve Louisiana's ranking in health outcomes for the disabled and the aging population and by improving the service delivery system.

• Managed the Office of Public Health Center for Community Preparedness and Health Protection, which included the Public Health Laboratory, Sanitarian Services, the Bureau of Community Preparedness (ESF8 EOC) and the Bureau of Planning of Performance.
• Led Louisiana's statewide testing efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure healthcare facilities, long term care facilities, state institutions, schools and communities had resources to test individuals (both PCR and Rapid methods). Developed the state test plan which was recognized by CDC as a best practice.
• Managed over $250 million in federal funding to efficiently and effectively sustain the testing of our most vulnerable populations to minimize health impacts and to minimize the impact to state funding.
• The testing plan strategy and execution allowed our testing per capita rates to surge to best in the nation in the early months of the pandemic.
• Created an LDH wide structure and process for continuous quality improvement using Lean Six Sigma (LSS) methodology. Trained approximately 20 LSS Green Belt Engineers across LDH through efficiency projects pointed at solving challenges in process efficiency, accountability and quality.

• Continued to direct state efficiency improvement efforts throughout state government, while focusing on the challenges faced by the Office of Community Development in monitoring federal funding project compliance.

• Directed efficiency improvement efforts statewide throughout Louisiana State government by leading internal teams to solve critical challenges while training them on the methodology to create sustainability and repeatability. Project portfolio includes over 30 projects and $30 million in annual efficiency gains for Louisiana.
• A few examples of successes include reduction in Forensic DNA case reporting times from an average of 258 days to 10 days and elimination of the LSP Crime Lab backlog of cases; elimination of past due public health inspections (44% overdue to 0%); and a statewide business transformation of state procurement to centralize and streamline processes resulting in a $10.4 million annual efficiency gain.
• Recognized nationally multiple times for innovation and best practice development and implementation.

• Managed the operations of the DNA Forensic Unit, including the DNA CODIS operations for the state CODIS system. Identified inefficiencies that lead to an over 15,000 case backlog. Using a new approach to process management (Lean Six Sigma), strategically solved operational challenges to put the LSP Crime Lab as the best in quality and operational efficiency in the nation and internationally.
• Eliminated the casework "backlog" utilizing Lean Six Sigma quality improvement methods. Doubled DNA forensic testing productivity and doubled the number of CODIS "hits" obtained through forensic casework.
• Obtained certification as an expert in Lean Six Sigma methodology, obtaining certification at the highest level as a Master Black Belt Engineer in LSS.
• Ensured continued accreditation and compliance with analytical certification, as well as all state and federal regulations regarding testing and financial funding streams.
• Successfully managed the annual state budget of $14 million and $17 million federal grant funding, as well as recruited and retained quality testing scientists ensuring a sustainable scientific workforce.

• Developed quality procedures to attain and sustain certification and accreditation for a private anatomical laboratory serving the major hospitals and clinics in south Louisiana.
• Implemented a compliance testing program to monitor and identify gaps in new and existing practices.
• Responsibilities included compliance of clinical and anatomical testing, safety, and billing practices for a large physician practice serving multiple hospital and healthcare systems.

• Recruited, hired and managed over 100 professional clinical staff members and their Supervisory staff to provide Clinical and Anatomical Laboratory in support of the nation’s only freestanding, private, not-for-profit, specialty hospital for women and infants and the 17th-largest childbirth service in the United States and the largest in birthing and neonatal intensive care hospital in Louisiana.
• Managed laboratory compliance, technology systems and quality assurance. Provided operational documents and produced reports detailing activities to demonstrate successful management of budgets and allocated resources to maximize productivity and profitability, while ensuring compliance with all regulations and accreditations.
• Evaluated employee performance and conveyed constructive feedback to improve skills, while maintaining a desirable work culture and high retention rates. Overall staff tenure was over 25 years.
• Provided a high standard of excellent customer service achieving 99% customer satisfaction ratings.

Research Associate (1990-1995)

• Designed and executed the startup of the Clinical Research Laboratory, including operational processes, procedure development and documentation, staffing, budgeting, test methodology selection and accreditation.
• Developed and published new scientific testing methodologies to meet the needs of the nutritional testing research projects.

Quality Improvement Coordinator (1995-1996)

• Developed the quality assurance program and ensured continued certification and accreditation of testing systems.

Research Facilitator (1996-1999)

• Provided testing support for all grant projects and facilitated subject testing processes to ensure data collection, analysis and publication.

Business Manager (1999-2002)

• Managed the business operations to maximize the efficiency of the clinical testing operations and provide a sustainable financial model for continued success utilizing federal grant funding.

• Marketed clinical laboratory testing for a pathologist owned clinical laboratory to include testing for both physician clinical testing and industrial employee health and drug screen testing.

• Performed clinical laboratory analysis and reported test results in support of medical diagnosis and treatment within the state's largest physician clinic practice.