Advancing Excellence in America’s Nursing Homes Campaign
National Campaign Steering Committee
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care
American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA)
American Association of Nurse Assessment Coordinators (AANAC)
American College of Health Care Administrators (ACHCA)
American Health Care Association (AHCA)
American Medical Directors Association (AMDA)
Association of Health Facility Survey Agencies (AHFSA)
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and its contractors, the Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs)
Foundation of the National Association of Boards of Examiners of Long Term Care Administrators
National Association of Directors of Nursing Administration in Long Term Care (NADONA/LTC)
National Association of Health Care Assistants (NAHCA)
National Citizens’ Coalition for Nursing Home Reform (NCCNHR)
National Commission for Quality Long-Term Care
National Conference of Gerontological Nurse Practitioners (NCGNP)
National Gerontological Nursing Association (NGNA)
Service Employees International Union
The Commonwealth Fund
The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society
The John A. Hartford Foundation Institute for Geriatric Nursing
Committee Members:
Diane Carter, RN, MSN, CS is the President and CEO of the American Association of Nurse Assessment Coordinators (AANAC). Diane is currently involved on a workgroup for the development of the MDS 3.0 and was on the Technical Expert Panel for the development of the MDS 3.0. Diane's activities with AANAC include ensuring: that healthcare professionals involved in the RAI process are competent as a result of the educational and professional resources AANAC provides; that the legal, regulatory and public policy environment is favorable for healthcare professionals involved in the RAI process; and that AANAC is recognized as the foremost source of knowledge about federally mandated assessment instruments.
She serves on the Steering Committee for the Advancing Excellent Campaign, The Sioux Falls Group, the Board of Directors of the Colorado Culture Change Coalition, and is a member of the Geriocoalition through the Hartford Institute with New York University. Prior to forming AANAC, she was the Associate Director of the Colorado Association of Home and Services for the Aging. She was also employed by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment as the Assistant Director of the Health Facilities Division. Diane was the MDS Coordinator for the State of Colorado, a HCFA instructor and advisor on Quality Indicators, and she managed the Colorado beta test for implementation of MDS automation. Diane has been a provider trainer since 1990 when she worked for the Colorado Health Care Association. She has taught more than 400 programs in Colorado and nationally on a variety of regulatory issues including the MDS and its use as a resident assessment tool, in reimbursement and regulation. She worked for more than five years with the Center for Health Policy Research and was involved in research on cost, quality of care and life and case-mix in the early 1980’s which lead to the development of the MDS and implementation of case mix reimbursement. Diane began her career as a nurse aide in the 60’s and worked as Director of Nursing of a Denver nursing home. She has more than 30 years experience in the long-term care field.
Chris Condeelis, Senior Director of Quality and Professional Development for the American Health Care Association (AHCA), has been a leading figure in advocating for evidenced-based, systematic quality process within nursing facilities and leadership competency within the profession. Ms. Condeelis, with over 25 years of experience, joined AHCA in 1995. Her work at AHCA includes guidance of the Quality First program and development of Advancing Excellence in America’s Nursing Homes, both national initiatives; AHCA’s Quality Awards program for LTC facilities, which is based on the rigorous Malcom Baldridge Quality Award model; innovative nurse leadership training with the Radiating Excellence self-assessment program; and she presides over all association professional development programs with a special emphasis on the annual convention’s 80 or more professional development seminars. Ms. Condeelis is also staff liaison to AHCA’s Quality Improvement Subcommittee and serves on many ad hoc task forces and workgroups both within AHCA and in cooperation with external stakeholders. Ms. Condeelis completed graduate studies in social science research at the University of Pennsylvania and earned a BS degree in Sociology from Hood College in MD.
Karyn Downie, RN, MPH is a health policy analyst in the advocacy division of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA). The members AAHSA (www.aahsa.org) serve two million people every day through mission-driven, not-for-profit organizations dedicated to providing the services people need, when they need them, in the place they call home. AAHSA's commitment is to create the future of aging services through quality people can trust. Karyn spent five years in inpatient and international nursing before entering the long-term care field. After earning her Masters in public health with a focus on health policy, she joined AAHSA as a health policy analyst. She currently works on topics related to nursing home quality.
Charlotte Eliopoulos, RN, MPH, ND, PhD is the Executive Director of NADONA––the National Association of Directors of Nursing Administration in Long-Term Care, an organization of over 7000 long-term care nurses that has represented this specialty for over two decades. Charlotte has been a strong voice for innovative long-term care, advocating improved status and salary of caregivers, expanded and innovative roles, and, when recognition of the specialty was barely achieved, specialization in gerontological nursing care. In addition to contributing dozens of articles and chapters, Charlotte has written 17 books, including Gerontological Nursing 6th edition, Nursing Administration of Long-Term Care 6th edition, DON Guide for Excellence in LTC, LPN Guide for Excellence in LTC, and Staff Development Handbook for Long-Term Care Facilities.
For this presentation, she represents the Steering Committee’s nursing organizations: AANAC, the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing, NGNA, and NCGNP.
Lee Goldberg, JD, MA is the policy director for the Long Term Care Division of the Service Employees International Union, the largest health care union in the United States. He received a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science from the University of California, Davis in 1984, a law degree from the George Washington University in 1992 and a master in international economics and international relations from the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies also in 1992.
At SEIU, he works with local leaders on a variety of state level issues ranging from health care reform to rebalancing state Medicaid programs; he also works closely with legislative staff on federal long-term care policy and funding, including federal regulation of nursing homes. Prior to coming to SEIU, he was a Senior Communications Manager and a Senior Legislative Representative with the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare where he directed the media operations of the political advocacy group through two campaign cycles and lobbied on health care and income security issues through policy position papers and briefings. In addition to his work in the labor movement and in advocacy world, Lee worked on the Hill for Sen. Donald Riegle (D-MI) and Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA).
Stefan Gravenstein, MD, MPH is Clinical Director at Quality Partners of Rhode Island. As renowned geriatrician and certified medical director, Dr. Gravenstein brings more than 20 years of geriatric and long-term care experience to Quality Partners, where he is responsible for the design, development, and implementation of local and national quality improvement initiatives in the nursing home setting. He provides clinical direction and leadership to support Quality Partners’ role as the Nursing Home Quality Improvement Support Center (QIOSC). As the Nursing Home QIOSC, Quality Partners provides tools and information to help all Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) improve the quality of care and experience of nursing home residents across the U.S.
Prior to joining Quality Partners, Dr. Gravenstein was Professor of Internal Medicine and Director of the Glennan Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, and the John Franklin Professor of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Norfolk, VA. He is a career academic geriatrician with competitive NIH or VA funding related to geriatric medicine and aging since 1985; currently, his NIH funding is a Geriatric Leadership Award. Dr. Gravenstein’s research and publications focus primarily on influenza and vaccination among nursing home residents.
Recent honors include Dr. Gravenstein’s 2006 naming as a Fellow in the American Geriatrics Society. Dr. Gravenstein received his Bachelor’s of Science from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH; his Medical Degree from the Ohio State University, Columbus, OH; and his Master’s in Public Health from East Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, VA.
Sarah Greene Burger, RN-C, MPH, FAAN is the coordinator of the Coalition of Geriatric Nursing Organizations, whose membership includes 20,000 long-term care nurses who seek to improve care for elders wherever they may receive their care, and Senior Advisor to the John A. Hartford Foundation Institute for Geriatric Nursing, New York University, College of Nursing.
Alice H. Hedt, MUA became the Executive Director of the National Citizens' Coalition for Nursing Home Reform (NCCNHR) in January 2004 following a 20-year career in advocacy and long-term care. She served as one of the first regional ombudsmen in North Carolina advocating for 12,000 residents in an eight county area from 1980 - 1991. In this position, she organized the Long Term Care Coalition to address quality of care issues and chaired the North Carolina Regional Ombudsman organization. Interested in all aspects of the continuum of care, she has also developed and administered community based programs for six years including adult day care centers, respite care, a case management alternative to nursing homes, and holistic aging services in public housing for the elderly.
Before becoming Executive Director, Alice had been the Director of the National Long Term Care Ombudsman Resource Center at NCCNHR since May 1998. Funded by the Administration on Aging, the Center provides support, technical assistance, training, and research for the 53 state and 600+ local ombudsman programs who serve the 2+ million residents in nursing homes, assisted living, and other board and care facilities.
At NCCNHR, Alice leads a coalition of group and individual members that advocate for resident directed quality care through effective citizen groups and ombudsman programs, promoting best practices in care delivery, public policy that is responsive to consumer needs and enforcement for consumer-directed living standards. She is responsible for the day-to-day management or the organization, reporting to a 22 member Board of Directors representing NCCNHR’s membership of citizen groups, ombudsman programs, advocacy organizations, resident and family councils, and other concerned individuals.
Sandra L. Hughes, JD is a policy coordinator for the Long Term Care Division of the Service Employees International Union. She received her bachelors’ degree from Yale College and her juris doctor degree from Harvard Law School. After law school, she practiced labor law and general litigation for twenty years, but in 2001 began working on health policy issues, focusing on long-term care. From 2001 to 2003, she was a consultant to the American Bar Association’s Commission on Law and Aging, where she worked on elder abuse issues and on a subcontract from the Cash and Counseling Demonstration to evaluate liability issues in consumer-directed care. In 2004, she worked as a consultant to the National Citizens’ Coalition for Nursing Home Reform. Since 2005, she has been at the SEIU where she has specialized in issues relating to nursing homes, managed long-term care, and the long-term care workforce.
Mary Jane Koren, MD, MPH, Assistant Vice President, joined the Fund in 2002 and leads the Picker/Commonwealth Program on Quality of Care for Frail Elders. Dr. Koren, an internist and geriatrician, began her academic career at Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx NY where she helped establish one of the early geriatric fellowship programs in NY, practiced in both nursing home and home care settings and was the Associate Medical Director of the Montefiore Home Health Care Agency. She later joined the faculty of Mt. Sinai’s Department of Geriatrics and served as associate chief of staff for extended care at the Bronx V.A. Medical Center.
Leaving academic practice, she was appointed as director of the NY State Department of Health’s Bureau of Long Term Care Services where she ran the nursing home survey and certification programs, led the state’s implementation of OBRA’87 (the Nursing Home Reform Law) and participated in many of the state’s LTC policy initiatives. Following that, she served as principal clinical coordinator for the New Jersey Peer Review Organization, which directed the Federal Health Care Quality Improvement Program. In 1993, she joined the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, first as an advisor and later as vice president of a grant-making program in the field of health services and aging. Throughout her career, she has been active as a health services researcher in the area of long-term care quality.
Steven Levenson, MD, CMD, has spent most of his 29-year career in long-term and postacute care settings. In 2006-2007, he has been the President of the American Medical Directors Association (AMDA). He is currently medical director of a number of long-term care facilities in Maryland. He is widely recognized for his pioneering work in medical direction and efforts to improve geriatric and long-term care. He has authored or co-authored four books and over 70 articles. For almost two decades, he has worked to refine many components related to implementation of OBRA '87 nursing home regulations, including surveyor guidelines and training. His book, Medical Direction in Long-term Care, was the first in the field about how to be a medical director. Another book, Subacute and Transitional Care Handbook, has remained the only comprehensive clinically oriented reference on the topic of postacute care. He has received a number of awards, including the 1998 American Medical Directors Association's (AMDA) Pattee Education Award for his efforts to educate and train physicians and others about clinical, operational, and other aspects of long-term care.
Paul E. McGann, SM, MD is a board-certified internist and geriatrician who presently works at CMS Central Office in health care policy related to health care quality improvement. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry and a Master’s Degree in Biology from MIT. He received an MD degree from McGill University in Montreal in 1981. Dr. McGann relocated from the University of Alberta in Canada in 1995, where he had 10 years of experience in geriatric health care, to become Clinical Director of the J. Paul Sticht Center on Aging at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.