Melissa Threlkeld, MHA, FACHE

Melissa has more than 20 years of healthcare provider and industry experience with expertise in strategy and business development, service line leadership and growth, physician alignment and recruitment, solution development, hospital operations and finance. Her experience and capabilities are broad, but her passion is in service line development, particularly for Oncology: leading and consulting on how to launch, develop, expand/grow service lines. She currently co-leads the service line strategy offerings for Kaufman Hall and has developed the approach used across the practice for service line strategic planning, as well as governance and leadership models.

As a Senior Vice President on Kaufman Hall’s Strategy & Business Transformation Consulting team, Melissa manages complex strategic engagements with AMCs, national health systems, regional health systems and community hospitals. She is a trusted advisor to health care executives, answering challenging questions related to market relevance, sustainable growth, strategic partnerships, major investments and disruption/innovation. She works very closely with AMCs, community health systems and dedicated cancer centers, where she has proven results in helping them grow, restructure and re-brand their service line programs.

Before joining Kaufman Hall, Melissa served as regional vice president of oncology for Sarah Cannon and HCA Healthcare in two divisions: Medical City Healthcare (HCA North Texas Division) and Methodist Healthcare (HCA San Antonio Division). At Medical City Healthcare, she was responsible for developing the vision, strategy and tactical plans for HCA's largest oncology service line. Under her leadership, HCA built a destination strategy, opened the first Sarah Cannon Cancer Hospital in Texas, grew market share and increased margins by double digits yearly. Before Sarah Cannon, Melissa worked at Cardinal Health in various roles ranging from strategy and business development to account management and consulting to an internal start-up. She led teams that worked directly with large health systems and academic medical centers across the U.S. She also held leadership roles at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in Houston and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Melissa holds a master of healthcare administration from University of Missouri and a bachelor of journalism from University of Missouri. She's board-certified in healthcare administration as a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. She’s also a member of the Association of Cancer Executives, American College of Healthcare Executives, and Cancer Support Community of North Texas, as well as a Board Vice Chair member.