Project Organization

National Advisory Council

The National Advisory Council consists of 16 leaders from the fields of home care, geriatrics, nursing, medicine, social work, and paraprofessional services, and from consumer and caregiver organizations. The Council’s two co-chairs are Joanne Handy, President and CEO of the Visiting Nurse Association of Boston and Mary Naylor, Marion S. Ware Professor in Gerontology and Director of the Center for Transitions and Health at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Nursing.

Full bios on both co-chairs and all council members are available as a PDF.

The purpose of the National Council is to review findings from all information gathering activities and come to a consensus on a national framework for geriatric practice improvement.

Project Staff

Penny Hollander Feldman, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator

Penny Hollander Feldman, Ph.D., is Vice President for Research and Evaluation at the Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY) and Director of the Center for Home Care Policy and Research. Prior to joining VNSNY, Dr. Feldman served on the faculties of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health, where she continued as Visiting Lecturer through June 2003. She is now an Associate Professor in the Department of Public Health at Weill Medical College of Cornell University. At the Center for Home Care Policy and Research, Dr. Feldman directs projects focused on improving the quality, outcomes and cost-effectiveness of home-based care, supporting informed policy-making by long-term care decision-makers, and helping communities promote the health, well being and independence of people with chronic illness or disability. The author of numerous publications, Dr. Feldman also has served on a variety of national committees shaping health care policy and practice. These include the Institute of Medicine Committee on Improving the Quality of Long Term Care, the Home Health Care Steering Committee of the National Quality Forum, the National Commission on Nursing Workforce for Long-Term Care, and the Advisory Committee on Designing a Long-Term Care System for the Future, convened by the National Academy of Social Insurance. 

Janice Foust, RN, PhD

Co-Investigator

Dr. Foust is an expert in geriatric medications management, hospital to home transitions, and evidence based practice. She received a doctorate from University of Pennsylvania, a MS from Boston College, and a BS degree from the University of New Hampshire, all in nursing. She was a John A. Hartford Foundation post-doctoral fellow in geriatric nursing and before joining VNSNY Center for Home Care Policy & Research she was faculty at the University of New Hampshire School of Nursing.

Ellen Kurtzman, RN, MPH

Senior Project Consultant

Ellen Kurtzman is a research assistant professor at George Washington University where her research and policy activities include directing a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation supported project titled Rewarding Quality Nursing Care. She was the Senior Program Director for the National Quality Forum (NQF) from 2001 to 2007.  In this capacity, she has led national efforts to establish voluntary consensus standards for hospital, nursing, and home health quality.  Prior to joining NQF, she was Vice President of Quality Improvement for the American Health Care Association and served in senior capacities for large, national health services organizations including the National PACE Association, the American Red Cross, and The Partnership for Behavioral Healthcare.  Ms. Kurtzman served as a Senior Examiner for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and Examiner for the U.S. Senate Productivity and Maryland Quality Awards.  She holds a bachelors degree in nursing from the University of Pennsylvania and a masters in public health from The Johns Hopkins University.

Susan Hopper, PhD

Consultant

Dr. Hopper is a medical anthropologist with broad experience in healthcare program development and evaluation and expertise in qualitative research, including focus group design and facilitation. She has experience in both grant making and grant writing/management. She has co-directed a Geriatric Education Center, served as project director for the Palliative Care Initiative for the United Hospital Fund, as senior research associate for Dr. Shoshanna Sofaer at Baruch College, CUNY, and consulted for many healthcare organizations. Dr. Hopper received her masters of arts and doctorate degrees in anthropology from Washington University in St. Louis.

Annette Totten, MPA, PhD

Project Director

Dr. Totten has held a variety of policy, research, and project management positions including working as a legislative aide in the Ohio House of Representatives, a program associate for the John A. Hartford Foundation, and a project director for the New York State Department of Health, the New York University Department of Nursing and the Columbia University School of Nursing. Before joining the Center for Home Care Policy & Research, Annette was the Director of the Center for the Study of Aging and an Assistant Research Professor at Boise State University. She earned her doctorate in health services research from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and also holds a Masters of Public Administration from the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University.   

Beth Costello, MA

Research Analyst

Beth has over five years experience coordinating research projects in the areas of psychiatry and cardiology, including a study on the genetic epidemiology of Major Depressive Disorder at the New York State Psychiatric Institute and an evaluation of medication eluting stents at the Cardiovascular Research Foundation.  Beth received a MA from Columbia University in Quantitative Methods for the Social Sciences in May 2005, and as a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in May 2002.  Her interests lie in the areas of health care policy, quality improvement, and health economics.   

Dhara Naik, MPH

Research Assistant

Dhara graduated with her MPH concentrating in Health Management and Policy from Drexel University School of Public Health in June 2007. Prior to receiving her MPH, Dhara attended the University of Michigan where she obtained her B.S. in Biopsychology and Cognitive Science in 2005. Her previous geriatric research involves evaluating the cognitive functioning of older adults versus younger adults as it relates to mobility. Dhara is familiar with quality improvement research and policy implementation as well as experience in logistical planning for various conferences and events.

Project Affiliates 

Visiting Nurse Service of New York

The project is administered by the Center for Home Care Policy and Research at the Visiting Nurse Service of New York. Established in 1993, the Center’s threefold mission is:  to conduct scientifically rigorous, practice and policy-relevant research on key issues affecting the cost, quality and outcomes of home and community-based services; to provide useful and timely information to key health care decision-makers on issues of national significance; and to serve as a catalyst for constructive change. More information about the Center is available at http://www.vnsny.org/research/index.html.

The John A. Hartford Foundation

The project is supported by a grant from the John A. Hartford Foundation.  Founded in 1929, the Foundation is a committed champion of training, research and service system innovations that promote the health and independence of America’s older adults.  Through its grant making, the Foundation seeks to strengthen the nation’s capacity to provide effective, affordable care to this rapidly increasing older population by educating “aging-prepared” health professionals (physicians, nurses, social workers), and developing innovations that improve and better integrate health and supportive services.  The Foundation was established by John A. Hartford.  Mr. Hartford and his brother, George L. Hartford, both former chief executives of the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, left the bulk of their estates to the Foundation upon their deaths in the 1950s.  Additional information about the Foundation and its programs is available at www.jhartfound.org.

© 2008 Center for Home Care Policy & Research