FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 25, 2010

AMDA Member, Foundation Researcher Appointed Director of Massachusetts Bureau of Health Care Safety and Quality

Columbia, MD ––AMDA and AMDA Foundation Research Network member Alice Bonner, PhD, RN, is the new Director of the Bureau of Health Care Safety and Quality at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. In her position, Dr. Bonner will oversee licensure, certification, inspection, and quality of more than 6,000 health care facilities in the state, including nursing homes, hospitals, clinics, dialysis centers, and home health agencies. Her bureau also oversees licensure of several thousand professionals in the state, including nurses, physician assistants, and pharmacists.

A career nurse and long-time geriatrics professional, most recently she was Executive Director of the Massachusetts Senior Care Foundation. Before that, she was the Clinical Director of Long Term Care and Geriatrics at the Fallon Clinic in Worcester, MA. She maintains a geriatric clinical practice, and she is an Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Nursing at the University of Massachusetts. 

Dr. Bonner is a long-time AMDA member and a popular speaker at annual symposiums and other educational programs. As a member of the AMDA Foundation Research Network, she has participated in long term care research studies and is a past recipient of the AMDA Foundation/Pfizer Quality Improvement Award.

“Caring for older adults has been a big part of my career, and I started doing research which has been very rewarding. When I heard about this position, I felt as though it was a tremendous opportunity to bring together all the things I’ve done and be involved public health policies in ways affecting older adults,” said Dr. Bonner. She added, “This is an opportunity for me to take my years of clinical practice and my years in management and look at where regulations can be enhanced to improve quality.” For example, she is working on one new program to help consumers digest the overwhelming amount of information they receive when they are admitting a family member to a nursing facility. Dr. Bonner explained, “We are asking nursing homes in the state to provide consumers with a simple, easy-to-understand brochure explaining what is in this huge packet of information and where they can get help if they need it. We worked with professionals and families to develop this brochure, incorporating their comments about what they think would be helpful.”

Dr. Bonner also will focus on education and training in her new position. “We want to make sure that when we evaluate a patient for an issue such as a wound, the person conducting that evaluation has the necessary resources, knowledge, support, and so on to evaluate it effectively and accurately. I’ve had many surveyors come to me and say they want more training in various areas. We’ve put a system in place to increase training for our surveyors in different areas,” she said.

Quality improvement (QI) is another priority for Dr. Bonner. “We would like to be able to offer facilities access to people, organizations, and resources that can help them put together excellent quality improvement programs.” She notes that this starts by making sure that facilities know about the Advancing Excellence in America’s Nursing Homes Campaign and organizations such as AMDA.

Another key area for Dr. Bonner and her bureau involves care transitions. “We’re working on improving transitions between nursing facilities and the hospital and from the skilled nursing facility to home. We have finished a statewide strategic plan on care transitions, and we are working with providers to improve communication and care between settings. This is a high priority in our state,” she said.

“We are pleased to see Dr. Bonner move into this important position. We share her  knowledge, passion, leadership skills, and visions for quality health care; and we know that she will have a positive impact in her new role,” said AMDA Executive Director Lorraine Tarnove.

The American Medical Directors Association (AMDA) is the national professional association of medical directors, attending physicians, and other professionals practicing long term care medicine committed to the continuous improvement of patient care. The organization provides education, advocacy, information, and professional development for medical directors and other practitioners from various disciplines working together to deliver quality long term care.

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