Nicola Truppin is the founder and principal of Health Navigator Partners, LLC,
a private practice dedicated to helping patients and their families navigate the complexities of health care.  She works, as needed, with Nurse Care Managers, Social Workers, Attorneys and other professionals, to bring a breadth of experience to your particular health care issue.

Professional Work

Nicola Truppin has worked in health care for over 25 years, and currently, has a private practice helping people navigate the complex American healthcare system.

Ms. Truppin trained in Health Care Negotiation and Conflict Resolution through certification courses at the Harvard School of Public Health. She was the administrator for Harvard Medical School clinical courses at Massachusetts General Hospital for three years and for the Clinical Investigator Training Program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for four years. As Manager of Member/Provider Appeals & Grievances at Tufts Health Plan for 5½ years, she administered a process for disputes between members/providers and the health plan predicated on conflict management principles. For 3 years, Ms. Truppin taught a medical resident seminar on managed care appeals processes at Tufts Health Care Institutes.

When Ms. Truppin practiced as a health care attorney, her work was devoted exclusively to negotiating with clinical care teams about medication treatment plans for legally incompetent patients.  Her current work, which does not involve practicing law, consists of collaborative health care problem solving with patients, providers and employers.  

In addition to her work as a Health Care Navigator, Ms. Truppin collaborates with the health care practice of The Mediation Group in Brookline, Massachusetts, a nonprofit alternative dispute resolution firm specializing in mediation, arbitration, facilitation, consensus building, training and consulting.  

As a former consultant to the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare, an organization dedicated to strengthening the relationship between patients and caregivers, Ms. Truppin’s most recent project involved convening special Schwartz Center Rounds for caregivers of the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing.

Volunteer Work

Starting in 2005, Ms. Truppin was deeply involved in statewide efforts to bring the patient voice to all matters of health care policy and practice.  She worked closely with the state-wide consumer advocacy group, Health Care for All, to promote the need for health reform in the Commonwealth and to ensure effective implementation of Massachusetts Patient Family Advisory Committee (PFAC) law. She is a founding member of Massachusetts Health Care Advocates (MAHCA) and of the now defunct state-wide Patient Family Advisory Council Board of Health Care for All.  For 5 years, Ms. Truppin served as the Patient Representative on the Quality & Patient Safety Committee in the Quality & Patient Safety Division of the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine. She has been a consultant for various projects at the Betsy Lehman Center for Patient Safety. 

As a volunteer Patient Advisor at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Ms. Truppin currently serves on multiple hospital standing committees, and, also, regularly meets with patients admitted to the hospital to obtain real-time feedback on the patient experience.

Publications

Betsy Lehman Center Expert Panel Report on Advancing Patient Safety in Cataract Surgery, May 2016. 

Patient Voices in Clinical Practice Guideline Development. David E. Matz, Allen Zerkin, Amy Rebecca Gay, Nicola Truppin.Dispute Resolution Magazine, Vol. 20.No. 4. Summer 2014

Commonwealth of Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine Expert Panel on immediate implant-based breast reconstruction following mastectomy for cancer: Executive Summary, June 2011. Lee BT,Duggan MM, Keenan MT, Kamatkar S, Quinlan RM, Hergrueter CA, Hertl MC,Shin JH,Truppin NB, Chun YS.J Am Coll Surg.2011 Dec;213(6):800-5.Epub 2011 Sep 29.

“Using the Law to Strengthen the Patient’s Voice”in Patient Advocacy for Health Care Quality: Strategies for Achieving Patient-Centered Care.Eds. Earp, French, Gilkey. Sudbury: Jones & Bartlett, 2008. (Co-Author)