Skip to Main Content
Services Talent Knowledge
Site Search
Menu

MelissaZambri

She | Her | Hers

Partner

"I consider myself very fortunate to team with health care clients in their pursuit of bringing quality services to individuals and communities across the state."

Overview

Biography

Melissa is the co-team leader of the Health Care and Health & Human Services Providers Teams.

In her practice, Melissa focuses on enterprise development and regulatory guidance for the health care industry. She provides counsel to individual practitioners, owners, administrators, executives, and employees of health care practices and health care-related facilities, including physicians, licensed medical personnel, providers of services to the developmentally disabled, hospitals, clinics, home-health agencies, senior residences and assisted-living facilities, laboratories, health care trade associations, durable-medical-equipment providers, alcohol- and substance-use-disorder treatment facilities, physician practice-management companies, mental-health programs, and medical-transportation companies.

Melissa assists health care clients with certificate-of-need applications, compliance programs, audits, investigations and self-disclosures, HIPAA compliance, and licensure issues. She also helps clients obtain approvals to operate health care facilities and to complete significant transactions. She counsels providers on federal anti-kickback and self-referral requirements, regulations governing federal- and state-funded health care programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, and other regulatory requirements applicable to health care providers.

In addition to her practice, Melissa is an adjunct professor for Albany Law School's Online Graduate Programs, where she teaches Health Care Compliance and HIPAA Compliance. She is also an adjunct professor at Clarkson University, where she teaches Legal Aspects of Health Care.

Melissa is a member of Barclay Damon’s Management Committee and managing director of the Albany office.

Bar Associations

  • American Bar Association, Health Law Section
  • New York State Bar Association, Health Law Section, Former Chair, and Committee on Fraud, Abuse, and Compliance

Selected Memberships & Affiliations

  • Barclay Damon’s Women's Forum
  • American Health Lawyers Association
  • State of New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department, Committee on Character and Fitness
Experience

Representative Experience

  • Provided regulatory guidance to a NYS performing provider system.
  • Provided due-diligence regulatory review for purchasers of OASAS-licensed facilities.
  • Assisted in the purchase of an OASAS-licensed facility.
  • Prepared a comprehensive HIPAA-compliance manual for clients serving the developmentally disabled.
  • Served as general counsel to a 200-bed community hospital, which involved coordinating all of the hospital's legal work and counseling its administration and board during the hospital’s acquisition by a larger hospital system.
  • Served as general counsel to a New York-based not-for-profit assisted-living provider, which involved licensing all four of its client residences and helping obtain ALR, enhanced, and special-needs licensure and certification. Melissa also drafted a winning HEAL grant application, which resulted in the client receiving $3.8 million from the NYS Department of Health to build a new assisted-living facility with enhanced capabilities.
  • Assisted in the combination of a not-for-profit Article 28 diagnostic and treatment center and a hospital system.
  • Served as health care regulatory counsel to a not-for-profit provider serving the developmentally disabled. In this role, she provided advice on compliance issues, gave board training on compliance, and provided counsel regarding a $3 million audit by the Office of the Medicaid Inspector General.
  • Serves as health care compliance counsel to a significant provider serving the developmentally disabled. In this role, she performs monthly audits of programs and provides compliance training to staff, board members, and management as well as assistance on all health care compliance matters.
  • Drafted an assisted-living program (ALP) application for which the client was given conditional approval to construct a new assisted-living residence with ALP and special-needs beds.
  • Provides clients with compliance advice and annual board and management training on a regular basis.
  • Successfully defended a HIPAA complaint to the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights.
  • Represented a provider challenging a certificate-of-need application of a competitor hospital.
  • Assisted with inspection and licensing issues with the NYS Office for Persons With Developmental Disabilities.
  • Assisted a mental-health provider client with self-disclosure to the NYS Office of the Medicaid Inspector General.
  • Provided counsel to a large pharmacy chain regarding a pharmacy audit by the NYS Medicaid Inspector General.
  • Assisted clients in the purchase of a pediatric medical practice.

Prior Experience

  • Hiscock & Barclay, LLP, Partner

Selected Community Activities

  • Albany Law School, National Alumni Association, Board Member
  • Proctors Theatre, Board of Directors Vice-Chairperson
  • Clifton Park Soccer, Travel Coach, Board Member, and Secretary
  • Miss Shen Softball, Former Board of Directors Member and Former Coach

Selected Honors

  • The Best Lawyers in America®: Health Care Law, 2013–2025
  • Albany Law School, Distinguished Teaching Award, 2023
Knowledge

Selected Speaking Engagements

  • Cerebral Palsy Associations of New York State Annual Conference, "Ask the Lawyer: Compliance and Quality Assurance," Co-Presenter
  • Albany Law School, "HIPAA Update 2019"
  • New York State Bar Association Real Property Law Section’s Committee on Not-For-Profit Entities and Concerns 2019 Annual Meeting Program, “Good Governance Practices for Not-for-Profit Corporations and Avoiding Conflicts of Interest”
  • HCCA New York Regional Conference, “Health Care Security and Privacy: Risks and Best Practices”
  • Quality and Compliance Conference 2018, Arc of New York and Cerebral Palsy Associations of NYS, “IT, Compliance, and Human Resources Issues in Quality and Compliance

Selected Media

  • New York State Bar Association Health Law Journal, “New York State Fraud, Abuse and Compliance Developments”
  • Thomson Reuters/Aspatore’s Inside the Minds: Health Care Law Enforcement and Compliance, “Blowing the Whistle on Yourself: Requirements to Disclose Mistakes Made Continue to Increase,” Chapter Author

Selected Alerts & Blog Posts

Featured Media

Alerts

Second Circuit Upholds New York State's Ivory Law, but Holds Display Restriction Unconstitutional

Alerts

$175 Million of Federal Funds Available for Electric Vehicle Chargers in New York State

Alerts

USFWS Issues Final Guidance on Northern Long-Eared Bat and Tricolored Bat

Alerts

IRS Guidance Excludes VA Service-Connected Disability Benefits From Certain Income Determinations for Qualified Residential Rental Projects

Alerts

Second Department: Objective Evidence Required to Establish Trivial Defect Defense

Alerts

NYS Department of Health Issues Consumer Protection Guidance on Payments for Health Care Services

This site uses cookies to give you the best experience possible on our site and in some cases direct advertisements to you based upon your use of our site.

By clicking [I agree], you are agreeing to our use of cookies. For information on what cookies we use and how to manage our use of cookies, please visit our Privacy Statement.

I AgreeOpt-Out