Biel Consulting, Inc. specializes in tax-exempt hospital community benefit work. We also supply a variety of business development, analysis and evaluation services to nonprofit health and social service organizations. We consult with hospitals, hospital foundations, community clinics, community-based service agencies, and certification organizations.
Biel Consulting, Inc. specializes in: Community benefit assessment, planning and reporting for nonprofit hospitals, Community Health Needs Assessments and Implementation Strategies, program evaluation/outcomes measurement, grant writing, data collection and analyses, professional and academic writing, and project management.
Dr. Melissa Biel has over 25 years of experience in the nonprofit and health care fields. She works with a variety of nonprofit health care clients in California, regionally and nationally. Melissa has extensive experience supporting organizations' community-based planning efforts, and facilitating collaborative action at a local level. Her areas of expertise include: community benefit planning for nonprofit hospitals, Community Health Needs Assessments, Implementation Strategies, community benefit reporting, nursing certification, strategic planning, program evaluation, data collection and analysis, and grant writing.
In conjunction with the Institute for Healthcare Advancement, Melissa is a co-founder with Maya Dunne, of Community Benefit Connect. Community Benefit Connect is a national website with curated information on community benefit and focused on increasing networking among community benefit professionals.
Melissa received a BS degree in Nursing from California State University, Long Beach and an MS degree in Nursing Administration from California State University, Los Angeles. Her doctorate is in Public Administration from the University of La Verne. She is the recipient of the 2008 Outstanding Senior Lecturer award from Chapman University College.
Denise Flanagan received her B.A. in Communications from Temple University in Philadelphia. She has extensive additional coursework in the sciences, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Denise has nine years of experience in nonprofit administration with expertise in the fields of health care and international poverty reduction. She is fluent in both written and spoken Spanish.
Sandra has years of experience analyzing business operations and implementing process improvements. She has worked with for- profit and non-profit industries assessing business practices and improving systems and processes. She is consistently recognized for her outstanding organizational ability and project management expertise. Her keen attention to detail serves her clients well. Sandra obtained her BBA in Operations Research and Information Systems from Eastern Michigan University.
Sevanne Sarkis has over 12 years’ experience developing large-scale, multi-faceted programs and public-private partnerships that achieve business goals. She has a unique background in health care external relations, legal advocacy and teaching. Most recently Sevanne was the Administrative Director, Community Benefit and Outreach for Keck Medicine of USC in Los Angeles, California. Ms. Sarkis has a Master’s degree in Healthcare Administration from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, a Juris Doctorate (JD) from, Loyola University Chicago School of Law, Chicago, Illinois; and a Master’s of Education from Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.
Deborah Silver has an extensive background in community-based strategic planning, facilitation, coalition building, organizational development, and resource development. As a Community Health Planning consultant, Deborah provides facilitation, project management and community assessment services, including collection of both primary and secondary data. She has worked with a number of partnerships, community-based organizations, foundations, and institutions. Deborah’s primary areas of expertise are with collaborative partnerships and nonprofit health organizations, including community clinics, hospitals, health plans, and public health departments. She has worked extensively with these organizations to assess the needs of the underserved, plan to increase access to care, and improve population health status.
Prior to becoming a Community Health Planning consultant in 2000, Deborah served on the Senior Management Team at the City of Pasadena Public Health Department as Division Manager for Health Promotion and Policy Development for five years, and was with the Department for a total of ten years. As division manager, she was responsible for budget, program and personnel matters for five different health promotion program areas, including tobacco control, alcohol and drug prevention/recovery, violence prevention, chronic disease prevention, and health improvement programs and projects, including Healthy Cities. As Project Director for Pasadena’s Healthy Cities Project, she was responsible for development of Pasadena’s 1992 and 1998 Quality of Life Index reports.
Deborah Silver obtained her Master’s Degree in Applied Social Psychology from Claremont Graduate University in 1988, where her research and studies focused primarily on organizational behavior and health psychology. Deborah received additional professional training from the Institute for Cultural Affairs (Group Facilitation Methods, 2006; Participatory Strategic Planning, 2006); National Conference for Community and Justice (Skills Training for Facilitators, 2000; Human Relations Train-the-Trainer Series, 2003) and from Community At Work (Participatory Decision-Making Workshop, 1998). Deborah has also served on a number of nonprofit organization boards of directors, including Day One, Planned Parenthood Pasadena and San Gabriel Valley, and the Pasadena Child Health Foundation.