Press Release

James Prister to Chair AHA's Section for Long-Term Care and Rehabilitation

Contact:
Elizabeth Lietz, AHA - (202) 626-2284
Matt Fenwick, AHA - (312) 422-2820

Washington D.C.

James Prister, President and CEO of RML Specialty Hospital in Hinsdale, Ill., is the 2010 chair of the American Hospital Association's (AHA) Section for Long-Term Care and Rehabilitation.  As chair, Prister will lead the section's governing council which advises the AHA on public policy issues of concern to all post-acute and continuing care providers.   The governing council represents executives from among the nation's leading rehabilitation, acute long-term care, skilled, home health and continuing care services.

Prister has been president and chief executive officer of RML Specialty Hospital since 1996.  Previously, he held positions as chief operating officer of Suburban Hospital and president of the Ventilator Support Center, both located in Hinsdale, and served for more than eight years as vice president of operations for Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, Michigan.

A Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), Prister is a member of the Northern Illinois Regent's Council for ACHE.  He has served on the board of the National Association of Long Term Hospitals since 1998, is active on committees of the Illinois Hospital Association and also served on the board of the Long Term Acute Care Hospital Association of America.

Prister is a graduate of Albion College in Albion, Mich., and received his master's degree in health services administration from the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Michelle F. Bellantoni, M.D., medical director of the Johns Hopkins Geriatric Center, Baltimore, Md., was named as the chair-elect of the section and will assume the role of chair in 2011.  New members joining the governing council are Catherine Barr, CEO, Bethesda Hospital and vice president, HealthEast Care System, St. Paul, Minn.; Janice Hamilton-Crawford, administrator, Southern Crescent Hospital and regional administrator, CHRISTUS Dubuis Health System, Riverdale, Ga.; and, Lynn C. Jones, senior vice president, post acute care services and president, home health and community services, Christiana Care Health System, New Castle, Delaware.

About the Section for Long-Term Care and Rehabilitation

The AHA's Section for Long-Term Care and Rehabilitation represents over 2,500 institutional members of the American Hospital Association, providing a unique blend of forum and network, linking members with shared interests and missions to advise AHA on policy and advocacy, and discussing issues of importance to all providers of post-acute and continuing care services. 

About AHA

The AHA is a not-for-profit association of health care provider organizations and individuals that are committed to the improvement of health in their communities. The AHA is the national advocate for its members, which includes more than 5,000 member hospitals, health systems and other health care organizations, and 38,000 individual members. Founded in 1898, the AHA provides education for health care leaders and is a source of information on health care issues and trends.