AMDA Honors Top Physicians During 2015 Annual Conference

Columbia, MD – AMDA —The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine and the AMDA Foundation announced its top award winners during AMDA’s 2015 Annual Conference held in Louisville, KY, last month. 

The 2015 Medical Director of the Year (MDOY) is Patricia Chace, MD, CMD, Medical Director at Optum Healthcare in Rhode Island. Known as a passionate innovator and effective team leader, she has implemented and promoted many important initiatives to maximize quality of care and quality of life for residents. At Optum, she established Grand Rounds with nurse practitioners and physician assistants as a learning tool in best practice and case development. She took the lead on promoting the use of probiotics in the presence of antibiotic therapy to help prevent C. difficile in the frail elderly. With an emphasis on early detection, she worked with clinicians to significantly reduce hospital admissions among Optum patients.  Dr. Chace has also implemented clinical education to promote the appropriate use of hospice services that includes input from patients and families. She wrote and taught the use of Coumadin and respiratory illness protocols, both of which are now standard practice in her facilities, resulting in improved outcomes. 

Judith Bessoff, NP, BS, MDH, a nurse practitioner and long-time colleague of Dr. Chace’s, said, “Dr. Chace has been an exemplary role model for us all. She always finds the time to help, she never considers a question too trivial or mundane to address, and she leaves a little something of an educational nature with each person. She considers every team member to be a valued colleague. She's always thinking outside the box and is incredibly knowledgeable, creative, and attentive.”

The MDOY award, established in 2007, recognizes medical directors who set an outstanding example of what the physician leader in post-acute/long-term care can accomplish with knowledge, experience, passion, and teamwork, as well as the ability to multi-task, stay on top of clinical and quality improvement innovations, and lead facilities in providing quality care.

Also during the conference, the AMDA Foundation announced the recipients of the William Dodd Founder’s and James Pattee Excellence in Education awards. J. Kenneth Brubaker, MD, CMD, is the Dodd recipient, and Jonathan Evans, MD, MPH, CMD, received the Pattee Award.

Dr. Brubaker is the Medical Director of Masonic Village in Elizabethtown, PA. In addition to serving on the AMDA Board of Directors as Treasurer, he was also Medical Director of the Year in 2008. He is also a Past-President of the Pennsylvania Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine, and he continues to mentor and teach practitioners in his state and across the country.

Dr. Evans is the Medical Director of two facilities Charlottesville, VA. He has held numerous faculty positions at the University of Virginia over the years, and he continues to teach there. A Past-President of AMDA, he has also been active on several committees and as a faculty member for the Core Curriculum on Medical Direction. 

###

About AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine 
AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine is the national professional association of medical directors, attending physicians, and other professionals practicing post-acute and long-term care medicine and committed to the continuous improvement of patient care. AMDA provides education, advocacy, information, and professional development to enable its members to deliver quality post-acute and long-term care.

About the AMDA Foundation
The AMDA Foundation advances the quality of life for persons in post-acute and long-term care through recognizing, inspiring, and educating future and current health care professionals