Catherine J. Barr to Lead AHA’s Section for Long-Term Care and Rehabilitation Governing Council

WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 -- The American Hospital Association issued the following news release:

Catherine J. Barr, president of Bethesda Hospital in Saint Paul, Minn. and senior vice president for community services, including long- term acute care, home care, hospice and palliative care within the HealthEast Care System, is the 2014 chair of the American Hospital Association's (AHA) Section for Long-Term Care and Rehabilitation Governing Council. The governing council comprises CEOs and senior executives from the nation's leading hospitals representing rehabilitation, acute long-term care, skilled nursing, home health and continuing care services. As chair, Barr will lead the section's governing council on public policy issues of concern to post-acute and continuing care providers and on AHA member service strategies.

Barr began her career as a nurse in a neuro step-down unit in Philadelphia. That experience informs how she makes a wide array of decisions every day that affect patients, families, employees and the community. Barr has been with HealthEast since 1998, providing program development innovations and management expertise to a wide range of service areas. Her current role is dedicated to delivering business and clinical results in health care's post-acute sector. Prior to joining HealthEast, she worked for eight years in the HealthPartners system.

Barr advocates for health care legislatively on both the federal and state levels. She is currently a member of the Community Health Charities Board, is the past president of the Women's Health Leadership Trust and has been included on Becker's Hospital Review list of "Hospital and Health System Leaders to Know" since 2009. In 2007, Barr was appointed to the Minnesota Legislative Commission on Health Care Access, a health care reform task force.

Barr holds a master's in business administration from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn. as well as a bachelor of science in nursing from Niagara University in New York.

Maureen Banks, chief operating officer, Spaulding Rehab Hospital Boston & the Spaulding Rehabilitation Network, will serve as chair-elect and will assume the role of chair in 2015. Lynn C. Jones, senior vice president, post-acute care services, and president, home health and community services, Christiana Care Health System, New Castle, Del., is the past chair.

Newly elected members to the governing council include: Kenneth Bowman, chief executive officer, Van Matre HEALTHSOUTH Rehabilitation Hospital, Rockford, Ill.; Nona Boyink, senior vice president, MaineGeneral Health, Waterville, Maine; Marc Lewis, director, Jaquith Nursing Home, Mississippi State Hospital, Whitfield, Miss.; Lisa Marsilio, executive director, Good Shepherd Penn Partners, Philadelphia; Daniel Mendelson, M.D., director, palliative care, Highland Hospital of Rochester, N.Y.; and Curtis Ohashi, Ph.D., chief executive officer, Select Medical Specialty Hospital, Cincinnati.

The new governing council members join the following current members: Antoinette Hardy-Waller, board member, Catholic Health Initiatives, Englewood, Colo.; Deborah Kania, continuum of care consultant, Sutter Health, Sacramento, Calif.; Timothy Page, chief executive officer, Kindred Hospital the Palm Beaches, Riviera Beach, Fla.; Duke Saldivar, chief executive officer, rehabilitation, Mercy Hospital-Springfield, Mo.; Jon Skinner, chief executive officer/market executive, Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation, Dallas; Charlotte Smith, M.D., chief clinical officer, University of Washington, Physiatry and Rehabilitation , Seattle; Stacy Smith, chief operating officer, Valir Health, Oklahoma City.; Patricia Upham, director, FirstHealth Home Care, West End, N.C.; and Rhonda Wiering, director, quality initiatives, Avera Health, Sioux Falls, S.D..

[Category: Health Care]

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