Kathleen Lovato receives 2017 Eli Pick Leadership Award

The American College of Health Care Administrators (ACHCA) has awarded its 2017 Eli Pick Award Facility Leadership Award to Kathleen Lovato, the longtime former administrator of Double-Tree Post Acute Care Center, Sacramento, California.

The award honors skilled nursing facility administrators that demonstrate excellence in leadership and facility quality benchmarks.

Lovato has been in the skilled nursing administration for 27 years and has experience as a medical assistant, certified nursing assistant and activity director. She also became a Preceptor for administrators in training, serving as the developer, mentor and coach of the Double-Tree’s administrator-in-training program.

The parameters of the award are demanding—Fewer than 9 percent of SNF administrators meet the qualifications, noted a press release. Eligibility for this award is based on three years of skilled nursing facility survey data, including the Health, Fire (Life Safety) and Complaint Surveys, as well as top-quartile performance on designated Quality Measures such as pain management and the reduction of UTIs, pressure ulcers and psychotropic medications.

The criteria also include requirements of facility occupancy at 80 percent or greater and a three-year avoidance of Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services Special Focus Facility status.

“While I am honored to be recognized by the ACHCA for my leadership, it takes a hard-working, dedicated team to provide the level of care that Double-Tree Post Acute Care Center has been recognized for,” Lovato said about her award. “The Double-Tree Post Acute Team worked together with me to make a difference in the lives of the facility patients and residents.”

Pamela Tabar

Pamela Tabar was editor-in-chief of I Advance Senior Care from 2013-2018. She has worked as a writer and editor for healthcare business media since 1998, including as News Editor of Healthcare Informatics. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Kent State University and a master’s degree in English from the University of York, England.