Healthcare Mediation
Healthcare Mediation
Steve Tafoya brings more than 25 years of clinical, hospital, executive, regulatory and education experience to independent healthcare mediation. Based in Reno, Nevada, he is available for appropriate engagements nationwide, subject to applicable jurisdictional requirements.
His practice includes disputes involving hospitals, health systems, medical groups, healthcare businesses and professional stakeholders. Clinical responsibilities, contracts and organizational obligations inform the issues participants evaluate in mediation.
Experience Across the Healthcare Landscape
Clinical, administrative and regulatory experience.
His professional background includes direct patient care, healthcare operations, hospital administration, executive management, statewide regulation and professional training.
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Practitioner
Frontline Healthcare Experience
His clinical background includes patient care, clinical decision-making and professional responsibilities in healthcare delivery.
This experience informs his understanding of the responsibilities of practitioners and institutions.
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Administrator
Hospital Operations & Administration
His experience includes managing complex healthcare operations, personnel, organizational resources, service delivery, operational challenges, and relationships between departments and outside organizations.
These responsibilities involved coordinating service delivery and institutional priorities.
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Leader
Executive Leadership & Business Management
Mr. Tafoya has held senior leadership positions involving organizational strategy, business operations, negotiations, stakeholder management, personnel, and executive decision-making.
He understands the financial, operational, and reputational consequences of unresolved disputes.
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Regulator
Regulatory Oversight & Compliance
As a former Nevada State EMS Program Manager, he worked within statewide healthcare regulation and oversight.
His experience provides insight into the responsibilities healthcare organizations face when balancing operational demands, professional standards, public accountability, and regulatory expectations.
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Educator
Healthcare Education & Professional Training
His experience includes educating and training healthcare professionals and understands how professional development, standards, competency, and organizational expectations intersect.
He also serves as a volunteer mediation practice proctor for the National Judicial College, supporting the training of new mediators.
Relevant Professional Experience
Healthcare operations and stakeholder relationships.
Appropriate Healthcare Matters
- Hospital, physician group and medical practice relationships
- Service-provider, vendor and payer-adjacent contract disputes
- Disagreements between clinical and administrative leadership
- Partnerships, affiliations and interagency agreements
- Workplace, HR and personnel matters within healthcare organizations
- Organizational transitions and stakeholder alignment
Graduate Education
Business administration and legal studies.
MBA with a healthcare administration focus from Auburn University, and a Master of Legal Studies in Business Law and Corporate Compliance from Arizona State University, along with professional mediation training through the National Judicial College.
As a mediator, Mr. Tafoya acts only as a neutral. He is not a physician or attorney, and does not provide legal representation, compliance determinations, medical advice, peer review, clinical investigations or adjudication.
National Healthcare Mediation
National Reach. Extensive Healthcare Experience.
Mr. Tafoya's professional experience extends across clinical practice, hospital administration, executive leadership, healthcare regulation, and professional education. His work has involved healthcare organizations and professional standards at both regional and national levels.
Mr. Tafoya is a healthcare expert who works with legal counsel nationally on clinical, operational and regulatory questions. This expertise is a qualification relevant to mediation, distinct from his mediation case history. You can learn more about his healthcare advisory work at Battle Born Advising.
Appropriate matters include medical malpractice and professional liability disputes. Early neutral evaluation is also available, giving parties and counsel an impartial, non-binding assessment of the issues before or during litigation.
This background provides a substantial foundation for independent mediation involving hospitals, health systems, medical practices, healthcare businesses, and professional stakeholders.
He is available to serve as a neutral in healthcare disputes involving multiple organizations, business relationships, contractual disagreements, operational matters, human resources and personnel issues, and other appropriate matters.
National healthcare mediation engagements may be conducted in person, virtually, or through a combination of both formats, subject to applicable requirements.
The Process
How healthcare mediation works.
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Inquiry and conflict screening
Counsel or a party submits general information about the dispute. No confidential details are needed at this stage. A conflict check is completed before any engagement.
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Agreement to mediate
The parties agree on scheduling, format (in person, Zoom or hybrid), session length and confidentiality terms consistent with applicable rules.
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Pre-mediation preparation
Counsel may provide confidential summaries. Separate pre-session calls help clarify the issues, the decision-makers and any insurer or institutional approvals involved.
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Mediation session
Joint and private sessions help the parties examine positions, risks and options. The mediator does not decide the outcome or give legal or medical advice.
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Resolution or next steps
If the parties reach agreement, counsel documents the terms. If not, the parties keep all their other options.
Questions
Healthcare mediation FAQ.
See also all mediation services and information for attorneys.
- What is healthcare mediation?
- A confidential, voluntary process in which a neutral mediator helps parties in a healthcare dispute negotiate a resolution. The parties, not the mediator, decide whether and how the matter resolves.
- Do you mediate medical malpractice and professional liability cases?
- Yes. Appropriate medical malpractice and professional liability matters may be mediated, typically with counsel and insurers participating, subject to conflict screening and applicable requirements.
- What is early neutral evaluation?
- An impartial, non-binding assessment of the issues offered to parties and counsel before or during litigation, to help them evaluate the case and plan next steps.
- Do you mediate hospital HR and personnel matters?
- Yes. Workplace, human resources and personnel disputes within hospitals, health systems and healthcare organizations are among the matters he mediates.
- Can mediation be held outside Nevada?
- Yes. Engagements are available nationwide by Zoom, in person or in a hybrid format, subject to applicable laws, court rules and agreement of the parties.
- Is the mediator an attorney or physician?
- No. Mr. Tafoya serves only as a neutral. He does not provide legal representation, legal advice or medical advice.
Request Healthcare Mediation Availability.
Submit general information about the dispute and preferred format. Acceptance is subject to conflict screening, applicable requirements and agreement of the parties.