Press Release

Michele F. Bellantoni, M.D. to Chair AHA's Section for Long-Term Care and Rehabilitation

Contact:
Matthew Fenwick - (312) 422-2820
Elizabeth Lietz - (202) 626-2284

Washington D.C.

Michele F. Bellantoni, M.D., medical director, Johns Hopkins Bayview Care Center, Baltimore, Md. is the 2011 chair of the American Hospital Association's (AHA) Section for Long-Term Care and Rehabilitation.  As chair, Dr. Bellantoni 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.

Bellantoni has been medical director of Johns Hopkins Bayview Care Center, a dually licensed 150 bed chronic hospital and skilled nursing facility since 1997.  She is also an associate professor and clinical director of the Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

A member of the American Medical Directors Association, Bellantoni is also a member of the Editorial Board: Johns Hopkins Health After 50, a periodical for older adults to promote health and wellness.  She is an ad hoc reviewer for: J American Geriatrics Society, J of Gerontology, JAMA, and the Am J Medicine and an administrative editor for Practical Reviews in Geriatric Medicine.

Bellantoni is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and completed an internal medicine residency at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.  Her current research is focused on improving the outcomes of medically complex older adults who require post-acute and long-term care.

Patricia Ostaszewski, CEO, Healthsouth Rehabilitation Hospital of Toms River, Toms River, N.J. was named as the chair-elect of the section and will assume the role of chair in 2012.  New members joining the governing council are Pam Duchene, Ph.D, vice president of patient care services and chief nurse executive, St. Joseph Hospital, Nashua, N.H.; Gloria Harmon, administrative director, regional rehabilitation services, Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, Berkeley, Calf., Mary Ann Rose, vice president, LTC administrator, Rutland Nursing Home, Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center, Brooklyn, N.Y.; Lisa Thornton, M.D., medical staff president, Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital, Chicago, Ill.; Tracy Willis, chief executive officer, Lovelace Rehabilitation Hospital, Albuquerque, N.M.; and William Healy, vice president for regional operations, Catholic Health East Health Care System, Newton Square, Pa.

About the Section for Long-Term Care and Rehabilitation

The AHA's Section for Long-Term Care and Rehabilitation represents over 2,000 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.