Movers & Shakers: Amedisys’ New Chief Clinical Officer

Amedisys Hires New Chief Clinical Officer

One of the nation’s largest home health care providers, Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based Amedisys Inc. (Nasdaq: AMED), has hired Susan Sender, RN, as chief clinical officer and senior vice president.

In her new role, Sender will oversee clinical practice and quality, set and maintain clinical operations standards and develop and implement clinical programs and education, Amedisys announced. Sender will also be responsible for patient care and quality outcomes, and support the organization’s clinicians.

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Sender most recently served as senior vice president and chief clinical officer at Kindred at Home for three years, where she oversaw more than 35,000 nurses, therapists, social workers and aides across 40 states. She has more than 30 years of experience in home health care.

Prior to working with Kindred, Sender was chief clinical officer and vice president of pediatric operations for five years with Loving Care Agency, a regional home health care provider in New Jersey. Sender also has 23 years of clinical management experience at Gentiva, the last seven of which she was vice president and chief nursing executive.

“Susan is a proven leader in her field and an exceptional individual with a powerful voice for inspiring her teams to perform at ambitious new heights and an unparalleled drive for setting the highest standards for evidence-based patient care,” Paul Kusserow, president and chief executive officer of Amedisys, said in a statement. “I’m confident that her efforts to build trust across disciplines and distinguish our clinical efforts will establish programs that translate into superior patient care.”

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Sender specializes in improving quality, clinical practice, developing policy, reducing unnecessary hospitalizations and in the clinical aspects of mergers and acquisitions. Sender has served on the national advisory boards and panels for the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and The National Quality Forum.

Honor Appoints Kathryn Parsons to Head Dallas-Fort Worth Expansion

San Francisco-based Honor Home Care has hired Kathryn Parsons as new general manager of the company’s expansion into Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas. The home care solutions company, which recently announced a $42 million Series B funding round, is entering its first market outside of California.

As general manager, Parsons will oversee local market operations and infrastructure growth for Honor across the region and manage the hiring of new care professionals. Parsons has been a patient care advocate for families locally and nationwide for the past 20 years. She has dedicated her career to educating businesses and community leaders about the needs of underserved communities, working on behalf of local patients with disabilities and their families. She has helped develop programs and initiatives to enhance citywide employment and educational opportunities.

Prior to joining Honor, Parsons served as CEO of LaunchAbility, specializing in early childhood intervention programs and disability services. During her time at LaunchAbility, she implemented and expanded a diversity consulting practice for large companies to help them better integrate adults with disabilities into their workforce. She helped create and lead the Global Summit on Autism in the Tech Workforce in collaboration with two other global companies, which led to the creation of a new global alliance called NeuroWix. She also serves as an advisor to 501Ops, a technology and SaaS initiative, to transform social ventures and help non-profit entities operate more efficiently. Prior to entering the care industry, she was a business analyst at PaineWebber.

“Kathryn Parsons possesses the entrepreneurial spirit essential to Honor’s success,” Seth Sternberg, CEO of Honor Home Care, said in a statement. “She is exactly the kind of tenured professional we need to drive expansion of our brand in North Texas. Her experience with groundbreaking care models and advocacy programs—and rare drive to seek more effective solutions to patient care dilemmas that have plagued the industry for decades—will be invaluable to our growth in this region.”

Alliance Homecare Names New Director of Nursing and Director of Care Management

New York-based Alliance Homecare, a concierge home health care provider, has named Mary Azadian, RN, as director of nursing and Carol Kushner, as director of care management.

Azadian, with more than 25 years of experience in the health care field, was previously at UCLA’s Medical Center Cardiac Catherization Lab and the Acute Cardiac Unit. She has also worked with Sarasota’s Memorial Hospital. Azadian owned her own home care agency in Florida. She was also director of clinical services at Nursing Solutions.

Kushner has more than a decade of professional experience delivering comprehensive care management services, including family consultations, long-term care coordination, crisis intervention and client advocacy. Prior to joining Alliance, Kushner worked at Visiting Nurse Services as a pediatric palliative care social worker and later as a hospice social worker at Mt. Sinai Hospital and The Jewish Home for VNS. She is a licensed clinical social worker and specialist in dementia and palliative care. She is also an active member of the Aging Life Care Association and has obtained her Care Management Certification.

United Hebrew Appoints New Head of Home Health Division

Frank Conway, a 30-year veteran of the health care industry, has been appointed as the new head of United Hebrew’s Home Health Division. United Hebrew of New Rochelle, New York, is a not-for-profit, non-sectarian, multi-service campus of comprehensive care, including a certified home health care agency. The organization also provides skilled nursing, rehabilitation services, assisted living, memory care and independent living.

In his new role, Conway will oversee the home health agency and manage AZOR license home care, which serves elderly clients who need help with care planning, medication management and support for daily living.

Prior to joining United Hebrew, Conway ran the Manhattan and Bronx offices of the U.S. Homecare Corporation, where he opened a social adult day care program. He has also served with Visiting Nurse Services of New York for two years and opened Norell Health Care’s Manhattan office.

“We are especially fortunate to have attracted someone with such a breadth of experience,” Rita Mabi, president and CEO of United Hebrew, said in a statement. “I have tremendous confidence in Frank’s abilities to lead our home health team in providing expert, personalized care to individuals, whether they are caregivers needing support with aging parents, or patients recovering from illness or injury.”

Optima Healthcare Hires Darcey Trescone as Vice President of Homecare Solutions

Optima Healthcare Solutions, a provider of cloud-based solutions for the post-acute industry, has hired Darcey Trescone as vice president of Homecare Solutions. Optima plans to release its home care solutions this fall.

As vice president of the division, Trescone will be responsible for guiding optima’s product organization to develop solutions for home care providers and will play a role in the company’s overall expansion in the post-acute market.

Trescone is a clinician with expertise in health care systems and more than 15 years of experience working with software and consulting firms, including Simione and Procura. She has also provided management advisory consulting for many leading home care and hospice providers.

SAGE Eldercare Names Executive Director

SAGE Eldercare, a home care, adult day program and advocacy group in New Jersey, has named Angela Sullivan as executive director. She was most recently serving as deputy executive director of the organization.

At the same time, the company named Shirley Cabildo, RN, as director of home care and Randy Lerner as director of marketing and business development.

Sullivan replaces Fred Jenny. She has served in various roles with SAGE for nearly five years, including interim executive director and as a board of trustees member. She worked with the executive director on financial projects and joint ventures while on the board.

Sullivan has previously worth with the Department of Medicine, division of cardiology and hypertension and the Department of Pediatrics, division of hematology/oncology of New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center. Her hospital career includes work in operations, finances, budgets and grants administration. She has also worked for Morgan Stanley in the equity department, analyzing and preparing reports for the options trading desk.

Cabildo has 40 years of experience as a registered nurse, director of nursing and licensed home administrator. She has served as senior vice president for Saint Barnabas Health Systems, where she was responsible for management of long-term and transitional care operations. Cabildo was also regional director of operations for Multicare Companies, where she oversaw 10 skilled nursing and sub-acute facilities. Cabildo has also served as the administrator of ManorCare New Providence for nearly 10 years.

Lerner has more than 30 years of experience in health care marketing, including positions at Mount Sinai Medical Center, Atlantic Health System, Genesis Healthcare, Humana at Home/Senior Bridge and Kindred Healthcare.

Written by Amy Baxter

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