AMDA honors three

AMDA–The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine and the AMDA Foundation honored three medical directors at AMDA’s recent annual meeting.

• Patricia Chace, MD, CMD, was named 2015 Medical Director of the Year for her efforts at Optum Healthcare in Rhode Island, where she has implemented and promoted initiatives to maximize quality of care and quality of life for residents. AMDA cited her for establishing grand rounds with nurse practitioners and physician assistants as a learning tool in best practice and case development. She also took the lead in promoting the use of probiotics in the presence of antibiotic therapy to help prevent Clostridium difficile in the frail elderly, according to the organization. With an emphasis on early detection, she also worked with clinicians to significantly reduce hospital admissions among those served at Optum. And Chace implemented clinical education to promote the appropriate use of hospice services that includes input from patients and families. AMDA notes that Chace has written and taught warfarin and respiratory illness protocols that are now standard practice in the facilities in which she works, resulting in improved outcomes.
• J. Kenneth Brubaker, MD, CMD, received the William Dodd Founder’s Award. He is the medical director of Masonic Village in Elizabethtown, Pa. In addition to serving on the AMDA Board of Directors as treasurer, Brubaker also was named 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.
• Jonathan Evans, MD, MPH, CMD, received the James Pattee Excellence in Education Award. The medical director of two facilities in Charlottesville, Va., he has held many faculty positions at the University of Virginia over the years, and he continues to teach there. A past president of AMDA, Evans also has been active on several committees and as a faculty member for the Core Curriculum on Medical Direction.

Lois Bowers

Lois A. Bowers was senior editor of I Advance Senior Care / Long-Term Living from 2013-2015.