COACHES/SPEAKERS
Karen Espenshade, BS, RN
Cardinal Health
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Karen has been an RN and served the healthcare industry for over 40 years. In her current role, she serves as Sr. Consultant, Clinical Operations, for Cardinal Health. She has experience in healthcare management, consulting, manufacturing, coding and reimbursement and direct patient care. She has worked in home care, long term care, acute care, LTACH, state government and served in the U.S. Air Force. She is Co-Author of Personal Health Record and Past Board Member of the American Heart Association. Her passions include serving those in her community and spending time with her family.
Holly Harmon, RN, MBA, LNHA, FACHCA
American Health Care Association (AHCA/NCAL)
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Holly brings both passion and a wealth of practical, real-world, clinical and operational experience to her role as Senior Vice President, Quality, Regulatory & Clinical Services at American Health Care Association (AHCA). Her extensive service in a wide array of settings including post-acute care, long term care, residential care, assisted living, independent living, a psychiatric hospital and occupational health have provided her with insights, knowledge, skills and innovative ideas which she exuberantly shares with others.
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At AHCA she oversees the quality, regulatory and clinical efforts. In this role, she has led AHCA’s national quality initiative that identified national priority goals and developed tools and resources for providers to achieve these goals. She designed and launched AHCA’s infection preventionist certificate program, that has trained over 4,000 individuals nationally. In addition, she coordinates the development of staff training modules in AHCA’s online learning management system, which includes training of over 200,000 individuals as temporary nurse assistants during the pandemic. She also led AHCA’s advocacy and feedback to CMS and CDC on how clinical guidance needs to pay attention to the resident’s quality of life.
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In addition to her vast clinical experience, Ms. Harmon has put her dynamic energy into leading the statewide Maine Culture Change Coalition/LANE as President, the Maine Partnership to Improve Dementia Care in Nursing Homes as Co-Chair, Vice-President of American College of Health Care Administrators, Maine Chapter and the Maine LANE Co-Convener for the national Advancing Excellence in America’s Nursing Homes Campaign. She also served as the Director of Quality Improvement & Regulatory Affairs at the Maine Health Care Association.
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She puts her boundless energy and warm and energetic personality into training, education and presenting both, nationally and locally. She has made simplifying the complex world of long term and post-acute care policy and practice an art.
Amy Lee, RN, BSN, MSN, CRRN, QCP
CoreTactics Healthcare Consulting
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Amy Lee is the president and CEO of Coretactics™ Healthcare Consulting, Inc., a healthcare improvement company founded on her passion for high performance and healthcare excellence. She is a pragmatic, innovative and industry-leading thinker that brings her 25-plus years of experience in acute and long-term care together into a holistic approach to healthcare operations.
Amy has established numerous best practice approaches in falls reduction, wound care management, antipsychotic reduction, behavioral management, person-centered care planning and reducing re-hospitalizations, just to name a few. Her knowledge of the Five Star Rating, MDS 3.0, CMS Quality Measures and PPS & Case Mix reimbursement allows her to assist teams not only with improving resident care but to also strategically improve their position in the health care market.
Amy has a Master’s in Nursing, a Certification in Nursing Rehabilitation and is a certified OASIS Trainer. Her numerous years in healthcare management allow her to connect with all levels of staff throughout the interdisciplinary team and develop strategy that organizations embrace to drive meaningful and sustainable change. Her expertise in clinical management, regulatory compliance and quality improvement support her dedication to making outcomes the pride of an organization.
Robert “Bob” Latz, PT, DPT, CHCIO
Trinity Rehabilitation
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Bob is a Board Member of the National Association for the Support of Long-Term Care (NASL), a member of the CHIME Policy Steering Committee, and a member of the American Physical Therapy (APTA) PAC Workgroup. He is a member of the LTPAC HIT Collaborative and the LTPAC CIO Consortium. In 2021, he was the Chair of the HIMSS LTPAC Committee and the President of the APTA Health Policy Section Technology Special Interest Group.
Dr. Latz is the only Physical Therapist with the HealthCare CIO certification from CHIME (College of Health Information Management Executives) and he is the Chief Information Officer for Trinity Rehabilitation Services, which improves human function by providing contracted therapy services in Post-Acute Care (PAC) settings.
In these roles and others, Dr. Latz is on a quest to improve health and wellness in our world.
Marguerite McLaughlin
HealthCentric Advisors, QIN-QIO
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MARGUERITE M. MCLAUGHLIN is Senior Program Administrator who provides coaching and hands-on assistance to healthcare organizations in their effort to improve quality and develop a strong, nimble and skilled workforce. Her approach combines quality improvement with person centered care based on the HATCh Model.
Marguerite is an enthusiastic educator and consultant who pursues her passion for improving the lives of residents living in long term care centers by teaching, problem-solving and developing educational resources, tools and products for staff. Ms. McLaughlin works both locally and nationally to accelerate change in healthcare. Her years of experience include Senior Director of Quality Improvement at the American Health Care Association, Sr. Program Administrator for Healthcentric Advisors-the New England QIO, Saint Elizabeth Home, and the Alzheimer’s Association. These experiences have provided her with unique insights and “boots on the ground” experience in helping organizations improve their care and service to their residents. Areas of special expertise include workforce development, dementia care, culture change and quality improvement.
Sarah Ragone, MS, PT, RAC-CT, QCP
Coretactics
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Sarah is the Vice President of Reimbursement and Education for Coretactics, Inc. Her decades of experience as a physical therapist have made her an expert in long term care reimbursement, rehabilitation program development, ICD 10 diagnostic criteria, appeals & insurance denials and regulatory compliance. Sarah is AANAC RAC-CT certified and uses this knowledge, in conjunction with her experience as a clinician, to provide guidance in MDS 3.0 completion and maximization of case mix, Medicare, Medicaid and managed care reimbursement.
Sarah’s long-term care experience includes rehabilitation department management, corporate level oversight of multi-facility rehabilitation departments, program development, quality assurance, reimbursement and MDS completion. Sarah has also served as an Appeals Coordinator, working with facilities to address Medicare, Medicaid and insurance denials and has assisted facilities to develop programs for billing compliance. Her experience teaching at the college level allows her to utilize her passion for teaching and bring a supportive approach to effectively working with interdisciplinary teams to improve quality and reimbursement outcomes.
Mary Rybicki, MS, RD, LDN
NCM Diet Manual
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Mary Rybicki is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and has over 25 years of diverse clinical and management experience in long-term care and rehabilitation settings. She has a passion for assuring resident choice and diet liberalization in post acute health care settings. She has assisted with on unit dining intitatiesl presented on toipcs including IDDSI, Dining & QAPI; and was involved with planning the first ANFP-DHCC DPG collaborative educational conference in March 2018. She has an MS in dietetics from MGH Institute of Health Professions and an MMHS from Brandeis University. She has held multiple leadership positions with the DHCC DPG and is currently Past Chair. She was co-editor of the 2015 Edition of the Pocket Resource for Management and is currently Editor-In-Chief of the NCM Diet Manual.
Katrina Woodward, MS, CCC-SLP, CDP
SDX Dysphagia Experts
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Katrina has been fortunate to practice a varied career as a speech-language pathologist with a consistent strong focus on expanding educational foundations while cultivating a professional network. Before landing in the world of adult medical speech pathology, Katrina worked as a research assistant to Dr. Rhea Paul at the Yale Child Study Center. Completing undergrad & Master’s-level research at Southern Connecticut State University, she explored social skills differences in children with impaired speech intelligibility. As a Clinical Fellow at Hartford Hospital, Katrina trained in rehabbing patients with acute brain injuries and complex medical conditions, learning to evaluate dysphagia with both MBSS & FEES. In 2005 she moved on to part-time work in skilled nursing where she connected with a mobile FEES provider. Over the next 10 years, she continued with the mobile FEES business while working for a rehab company which opened the doors to developing facility-wide dementia programming, mentoring over 20 CFs, providing staffing for local homecare agencies and even supervising the rehab department at an intensive special education academy. Katrina eventually settled into a full-time role as Vice President at SDX Dysphagia Experts when the company began to offer FEES services across New England. She is responsible for customer service, performance standards, quality assurance and marketing for the company in addition to continuing in her role as a FEES mentor and trainer. She provides educational seminars to the Master’s-level SLP programs across MA, CT, NH and RI as well as presenting for CSHA, RISHA, RIHCA, NHHCA and Leading Age CT in the last few years. In 2016, she received CSHA’s Distinguished Service Award. In January of 2021, she began her role of MSHA’s VP of Education & Planning, initiating a robust program of online webinars with an increase in membership to the association. Currently, she is a US & Territories IDDSI Reference Group volunteer, co-chairing the Communications & Advocacy committee. Katrina, her hubby of 15 years and their 5 children (3 humans and 2 canines) enjoy nature and the outdoors in all seasons.