Spaulding Rehabilitation Network Management

David E. Storto

President of Partners Continuing Care and Spaulding Rehabilitation Network

David E. Storto is the President of Partners Continuing Care and the Spaulding Rehabilitation Network. Under Mr. Storto's leadership since 1998, PCC has grown and been developed as the fully integrated non-acute care services division of Partners HealthCare based in Boston, Massachusetts. PCC includes two inpatient rehabilitation hospitals with 23 outpatient centers, two long-term acute-care hospitals, and three skilled nursing facilities, together recognized as the SRN. Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital is the highly ranked and internationally recognized flagship of the SRN and is home to the Harvard Medical School's Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

PCC's home care organization that covers Eastern Massachusetts is now known as Partners HealthCare at Home (PHH). PHH represents the integration over 30 hospital-based home-care agencies and community-based Visiting Nurse Associations. PHH has been recognized as one of the National Home Care Elite in 2009 and 2010, a distinction given to the top 25% performing agencies in the nation by Outcome Concept Systems. PHH was also one of the top performing home care organizations in the country in the CMS pay for performance demonstration project, driven heavily by its 90+ percentile performance in relation to avoidance of emergency department visits and unplanned acute hospital readmissions.

Mr. Storto is a Trustee of PCC and its subsidiaries, as well as of the Massachusetts General Hospital Health Services Corporation.  Since 1998, Mr. Storto has been a member of the Specialty Hospital CEO Group of the Massachusetts Hospital Association (MHA). In 2009, he was elected to the MHA Board of Directors. He also is active in several other national and state professional associations and community organizations.

Prior to joining Partners and Spaulding, Mr. Storto was the Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC). Mr. Storto served in numerous capacities during his 18-year tenure at RIC, including social worker, Director of Admissions and Marketing, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, and Vice President of Planning. During this time, he became an expert in operational management, program development, governance and strategic planning in rehabilitation facilities. 

Mr. Storto received his undergraduate degrees from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, with distinction, in 1976 and a Masters Degree in Social Service Administration from the University of Chicago in 1978. He received his Juris Doctor from the Loyola University of Chicago School of Law in 1986.

Mr. Storto is married to Shelley Mogil and they live in Concord, Massachusetts. They have two children; Max is a senior at Harvard College and Mara is a sophomore at Duke University. Outside of work and family, Mr. Storto is a marathon runner who loves to cook, sing karaoke, and travel.

Maureen Banks, RN, MS, MBA, CNAA

President of Spaulding Hospital for Continuing Medical Care North Shore and Cambridge, President of Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Cape Cod; Chief Operating Officer of Spaulding Rehabilitation Network

Ms. Banks is the President of Spaulding Hospital Cape Cod, Spaulding Hospital North Shore, Spaulding Hospital Cambridge and Chief Operating Officer of Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and the Spaulding Rehab Network. She has an extensive and varied background in nursing and healthcare leadership throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut, Virginia and New Hampshire. Ms. Banks has held senior administrative positions in academic medical center, home care and community hospitals. She has consistently held facility appointments in both graduate and undergraduate programs.

Ms. Banks has been active throughout her career in professional organizations.  At the state level she has served in several capacities for the Massachusetts Organization of Nurse Executives, including President. Ms. Banks also held many varied positions as a volunteer with the American Cancer Society over a 25-year period. Currently, she is a board member of ACCESO, a humanitarian organization building bridges between the people of Cuba and the United States.

Ms. Banks received her MBA and advanced certificate in health administration from New Hampshire College. Her undergraduate degree is from Boston College and she holds a master’s degree from the University of Connecticut. As a nurse, Ms. Banks’ clinical focus has been oncology and hospice care.  She is a diplomate in the American College of Healthcare Executive and certified in advanced nursing administration from ANCC.

Ross Zafonte, DO

Vice President of Medical Affairs, Research and Education

Ross D. Zafonte, DO, is the Earle P. and Ida S. Charlton Chairman of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School, vice president of Medical Affairs at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, and chief of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Massachusetts General Hospital. He has published extensively on traumatic brain injuries, other neurological disorders, as well as presented on these topics at conferences nationally and internationally. Dr. Zafonte’s textbook is considered one of the standards in the field of brain injury care. Dr. Zafonte is currently the PI on an eight-center NIH multisite clinical trial for the treatment of traumatic brain injury – the largest clinical treatment trial in the history of North America.  Dr. Zafonte also serves as the TBI Research Leader for the Red Sox Foundation/Massachusetts General Hospital Home Base program.

Prior to coming to Boston, he served as Professor and Chairman in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Zafonte also served as Vice President of Clinical rehabilitation Services for the UPMC Health System and Executive Director of the UPMC Institute for Rehabilitation and Research. Dr. Zafonte also serves on the Board of Governor’s for the International Brain Injury Association.

A world renowned expert on traumatic brain injury he has made numerous media appearances as well as testified many times to Congress on brain injury related issues such as concussions in youth sports. He has published extensively on traumatic brain injuries, spasticity, and other neurological disorders, as well as presented on these topics at conferences nationally and internationally. Dr Zafonte is the author of more than 200 peer review journal articles, abstracts and book chapters.  He also served as principal investigator on the University of Pittsburgh NIDRR TBI Model System and NIH Clinical Trials Center grant. Dr. Zafonte is the founding Chair of the Department at the University of Pittsburgh and while at Pittsburgh helped to direct its tremendous growth in both the research and clinical arenas.

In addition, he is on the editorial board of the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation and the American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and PMR. He has received numerous awards such as “Best Doctor in America”, “Top Doctors in America”, Young Investigator of the Year from the Brain Injury Association of America, listed in Boston Magazine’s Annual Top Doctors issue each year since 2008 and has been invited as visiting professor to several prestigious institutions. In 2006, Dr Zafonte was selected to receive the Walter Zeiter award and lectureship by the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and in 2008 he was the recipient of the Association of Academic Physiatrists Distinguished Academician Award.

Cara Babachicos

Chief Information Officer

Cara Babachicos is Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Partners Continuing Care, the non-acute care services division of Partners HealthCare System. In her role she is responsible for the management and oversight of the Information Systems, Technology and Information Strategy for Partners Healthcare at Home and the Spaulding Rehabilitation Network. Partners Healthcare at Home offers a broad range of in-home care services including certified home care, private care, and healthcare products and technology for 150 towns in eastern Massachusetts. The Spaulding Rehabilitation Network is a non profit member of the Partners Healthcare system that provides a comprehensive growing rehabilitation network of inpatient and outpatient services. Spaulding Rehabilitation Network is comprised of two rehabilitation hospitals, two long-term acute-care hospitals, three skilled nursing facilities, and 26 outpatient sites. 

Ms. Babachicos has over 20 years’ experience working with healthcare information systems with a career that spans across acute care, non-acute, for profit-vendors and consultant groups. She received an undergraduate degree in Management from Boston College and a Masters Degree in Healthcare Administration from the University of New Hampshire. 

Ms. Babachicos serves on the advisory board for the Medical Area Federal Credit Union. She is also on the faculty at Emmanuel College where she teaches various classes in Information Systems, Management and Project Management. Ms. Babachicos also serves as program faculty at Harvard School of Public Health where she teaches a course in project management.

Robert McCall, MSPT

Oswald (Oz) Mondejar

Vice President of Human Resources, Communications, and Community Relations

Mr. Mondejar will serve as a consultant on the study as an expert on the community with disabilities. Mr. Mondejar currently serves as the Vice President of Human Resources and Community Relations for Partners Continuing Care, the non-acute care services division of Partners HealthCare which includes four inpatient rehabilitation and long term care hospitals, twenty three outpatient centers, three skilled nursing facilities and a home care division. In this role, Mr. Mondejar touches on many areas from community outreach to work force development as well as implementation of key initiatives such as clinician training programs for staff such as Cultural Competent Care.

Over the course of a 25+ year career encompassing a variety of executive level positions, a major focus for Mr. Mondejar has been serving as an impassioned advocate and resource for the community with disabilities. Born with a congenital limb difference to Cuban ex-patriots, Mr. Mondejar has dedicated his life to helping those like himself who faced adversity because of real or perceived disabilities gain opportunities to pursue their life’s goals. A special focus for him has been mentoring young people to learn the skills to pursue both higher education and establish career opportunities.

Mr. Mondejar has been recognized by numerous community and government organizations for his work as an advocate for the community with disabilities. He also serves on several boards and advisory committees such as Partners with Youth for Disabilities and Work without Limits.

Within the framework of his advocacy, Mr. Mondejar focuses on both outreach and education to help build bridges of understanding between the community with the disabilities and the larger communities they reside. Often through both civic organizations or community education, Mr. Mondejar can be found creating further opportunities for improvement to the services and accessibility of that community. These efforts also are part of his humanitarian efforts to his ancestral homeland of Cuba, where he has coordinated groups of volunteers over a decade plus to bring medical supplies, clinical knowledge and needed goods to support the communities with disabilities often discarded in a totalitarian environment.

Mr. Mondejar’s extensive experience, connections and energy will serve to ensure that this study meets all goals related to serving persons and the community with disabilities.

Steven Patrick

Vice President of Development

Steven A. Patrick is the Vice President of Development at Spaulding Rehabilitation Network, a non-profit member of Partners HealthCare System that provides a comprehensive growing rehabilitation network of inpatient and outpatient services with collaborative relationships throughout eastern New England. Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital is the flagship institution of the Spaulding Rehabilitation Network, an integrated system of two rehabilitation hospitals, two long-term acute care hospitals, three skilled nursing facilities and 26 outpatient sites.

Steven leads the fundraising efforts of New England’s top rehabilitation hospital and its integrated system by working closely with hospital and Partners’ leadership, clinicians, trustees, and volunteer leaders in cultivating, building, and maintaining a strong philanthropic relationship with a wide variety of constituencies for the institution.

Prior to entering the development field, Steven worked over ten-years in healthcare administration at Spaulding, Joslin Diabetes Center, Children’s Hospital, and Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Steven holds Bachelor of Science degrees in Biology and Psychology from Tufts University, and has a fellowship from the Emerging Leaders Program of the Center for Collaborative Leadership College of Management, University of Massachusetts.

Nancy Schmidt

Vice President of Referral Relations and Admissions, and Marketing

Nancy is a 30-year veteran in the field of rehabilitation. She began her career developing hospital and community based rehabilitation programs for persons with brain injuries, both in Indiana and in the Greater Boston Area. Nancy’s career expanded to include leadership positions in all levels of post acute care, including sub acute, outpatient, and home care.

In 1999 Nancy provided consultative services to Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and was instrumental in leading the organization from traditional discipline-based care to outcome-oriented care planning and care delivery following the guidelines in the text for which she was co-editor, “Outcome-Oriented Rehabilitation.”

Nancy joined the staff of Spaulding in 2000 as the Associate Director of Ambulatory Services and Director of Spaulding’s Outpatient Campus in Boston. Nancy led the development of Spaulding’s Outpatient Center in Braintree which opened in 2003. Later, she accepted the position of Senior Director of Admissions where she worked hand in hand with referring hospitals to optimize admission opportunities for patients requiring acute rehabilitation. In 2005, Nancy joined Partners Continuing Care as the Director of Referral Relations.

Nancy has worked with key leaders in PHS Case Management and Care Coordination to provide a more integrated approach to the referral and admission process between acute and non acute care. In her current role as Vice President, Nancy is responsibility for referral management, admissions and marketing for the Spaulding Rehabilitation Network.

Mary Shaughnessy

Vice President of Finance

Mary is a seasoned finance professional with more than 30 years of experience in the public sector, consulting and healthcare field.  She joined Partners in 1996 and served as the Corporate Budget and Planning Director until 2006 when she joined Partners Continuing Care as the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer.  This role requires an understanding of a broad range of diverse organizations and their goals and challenges.  She and her staff work closely with clinicians and administrators to “take the mystery” out of Finance and ensure that managers across the organization can meet their strategic goals. Shortly after she joined PCC, she worked with key leaders at Partners and Spaulding to gain approval for Spaulding’s new hospital which is scheduled to open in 2013.  In addition to her work at PCC, Mary is active in a number of professional and community organizations.

Rob Welch, MS, PT, MBA

Rob Welch serves as the Vice President of Outpatient Services for the Spaulding Rehabilitation Network.  In this executive leadership role he is responsible for the outpatient rehabilitation and ancillary services operations and strategic planning for Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Spaulding Hospital for Continuing Medical Care North Shore, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Cape Cod, and 20 off campus therapy and physician practices located throughout the Boston Metro area.  He has been with the Partners HealthCare System for 15 years and has extensive experience in network and program development, marketing, quality and compliance initiatives, and clinical strategic planning. 

Prior to joining Partners, Mr. Welch served for 13 years in acute hospital and outpatient rehabilitation leadership for HealthOne/HCA in Denver, Colorado leading clinical and strategic planning initiatives with inpatient rehabilitation and outpatient clinical practices.   

Mr. Welch holds a bachelor degree in Biology from the University of Oregon, Master’s degree in Physical Therapy from Boston University, and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Colorado.  He is a member of the American College of HealthCare Executives and American Physical Therapy Association, and is an active consultant with McKesson Health Solutions and the Gerson Lehrman Group.