Melanie Parr

Senior Associate

Ms. Melanie Parr is a senior healthcare consultant with more than 10 years of experience in project management consulting and systems implementations in the energy and healthcare industries. Her experience and strengths are in the information systems project management, vendor selection, design, testing, and training areas. Her healthcare clients have included local and major university hospitals, health systems, and physician associations.

Healthcare Experience

Ms. Parr's healthcare experience includes roles as an internal IT project manager and also as a project management consultant. Having been on both sides of the table, she appreciates the demands on an organization's human and capital resources that systems implementations can bring. As a consultant, Ms. Parr is able to provide objectivity based on experience with numerous clients all over the country. Her healthcare systems projects have ranged from strategic planning, RFP development and vendor selection to project planning, implementation, testing, and training. Ms. Parr developed strategic plans for hospitals in Baltimore, Jacksonville, and Rochester, ranging in size from 300-500 beds; she managed the RFP (Request for Proposal) and vendor selection process for a physician group in the university healthcare setting in North Carolina; she led ancillary software and hardware rollouts for a local 5-site hospital network.

Other Relevant Experience

Ms. Parr's project management experience extends beyond healthcare. Recently she assisted an Ohio public utility with the implementation of a billing system for their 1.5 million customers. This high-visibility, 18-month project included conversion of data from the legacy system, interfaces to multiple enterprise systems, and months of testing and training. Ms. Parr also assisted the client with post-implementation support and change management to ensure the client's operations realized the maximum benefit of the new system. Locally, she led a work order software system implementation as an internal project manager with a developer of retirement communities. She managed the project through the entire life cycle, from early requirements definition through installation, testing and end-user training. Ms. Parr managed vendor resources, along with internal resources and business leaders located across 8 nationwide campuses.

Ms. Parr began her career in consulting with Accenture, where she learned the value of project management methodologies and tools. Her initial experience in the energy industry allowed her to work on several long-term projects with complex, multi-phase work plans, often spanning over 1-2 years and using over 100 consultant and client resources. The structure and methodology used in these projects enabled Ms. Parr to enter the healthcare consulting industry with the understanding of successful software implementations and the appreciation for high standards that the large consulting firm had instilled in her.

Education

Ms. Parr holds a B.S. in Health Policy and Administration from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Associated with HCIC since 2011