Speakers

Dave Totaro

Dave Totaro joined BAYADA Home Health Care as its Chief Marketing and Government Affairs Officer in June 2009, where he supervises the Marketing Office (MAR), the Relationship Management Office (RMO) and six Government Affairs Offices in PA, NJ, DE, MD, NC and Washington, DC.

Prior to joining BAYADA, Dave was Chief Marketing Officer at RehabCare Group, a national physical rehabilitation therapy management company, in St. Louis, MO. Before entering healthcare, Dave was Chief Marketing Officer at Caesars Entertainment, the parent company of Caesars Palace and Harrah’s, in Las Vegas, NV. Earlier, he was Chief Marketing Officer at one of the nation’s largest savings banks, Dime Bancorp. He started his career in consumer packaged goods at Avon Products and at American Home Products, where he was the brand manager that launched Advil.

Dave was a founding member of the Partnership for Medicaid Home-based Care, an alliance of the industry’s top Medicaid providers and managed care companies and was elected its Chairman in November 2015. He holds a BA in History from Dickinson College and an MBA in Marketing from the Wharton Graduate School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Lisa Begley

Lisa Begley works in the Home Health People Office as an Instructional Designer and is celebrating 5 years at BAYADA this year. With the help of her three children Elizabeth, Katherine and Jack, Lisa cares for her Mom in her home. There is a constant stream of clinicians and aides from both the Home Care and Home Health offices in the house to help care for “Big Mary.” (Who by the way is only about 5’3 and 115 pounds!)

Being a caregiver can sometimes be a challenge and The BAYADA Way has helped Lisa show compassion and love when times are tough.

Laura Elliott

Laura Elliott is the mother of John Elliott, an adorable 8 year old boy (Bayada client since August 2007) who loves music, snuggling, and can melt the coldest of hearts with his laugh. While John is at school, Laura works for Accenture, a global consulting company. Laura also enjoys supporting other parents through the journey of medically fragile/complex children, through Parent to Parent and social media. She created a document (100 pages!) for trach/vent families to better prepare them for their child's homecoming with a trach. Laura enjoys baking for her nieces, nephews, godchildren, nurses, and CVS Pharmacy. She spends time with the family on the weekends but takes time most mornings for herself at the gym. Laura lives with her husband, Charles, and John in Villanova, PA.

Theresa A. McIntyre, RN, Clinical Manager

A native of Baltimore, MD. attended Immaculata University for nursing. She joined the Bayada team in 2001 as a field nurse and in 2011 became a Clinical Manager in the Newark office for the home health practice. She enjoys reading and spending time mentoring the youth. She is also a wife and the mother of two.

Mike Fassino

Mike Fassino, Director of the Marketing Office (MAR) has spent his entire career at the interface of market research and predictive analytics. He was trained as a mathematical psychologist at Princeton University and started his career as a survey statistician at a market research company owned by Farm Journal. His career has spanned forecasting crop yields from survey data for Farm Journal Magazine to building a kids market research company for Weekly Reader Magazine and modeling asset defection and turnover for major mutual fund companies. He joined BAYADA Home Health Care in 2010 and established the MAR office with Dave Totaro.

He has authored numerous papers and articles related to statistics, forecasting with neural networks and causal inference from survey data.

Adam Groff

Adam Groff, MD, is BAYADA’s Chief Medical Officer and leads the Hospice Practice and the emerging Physician House Calls Practice. He is focused on building health care services that improve patient experience and clinical quality while reducing overall cost of care. He continues to practice as a hospitalist at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH, and is Associate Professor at Geisel School of Medicine and at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice.

Linda Siessel

As chief operating officer, a role she has held since 2004, Linda Siessel is responsible for the overall quality, growth, and organizational, and business operations of adult nursing, pediatrics, assistive care, habilitation, and staffing offices throughout the country.

Ms. Siessel began her impressive career with BAYADA in 1980 as a client services manager in the company’s first office in Philadelphia. In 1986, she became the director of a new BAYADA office in Hackensack, NJ. Ms. Siessel earned the title of division director in 1994 where she worked tirelessly to bring home health care services to MA, MO, NJ, NY, and PA.

During her tenure, Ms. Siessel led the development of a director training program, as well as a comprehensive pediatric preceptor program to mentor and train new nurses. She played a key role in the creation of a centralized office for the contract management, intake, care coordination, and insurance authorization functions. Her achievements also include the development of the home care operating model, policies and procedures, and the implementation of a program designed to safely transition BAYADA clients from the hospital to home.

Ms. Siessel led the development of a virtual office to provide staff relief, training, leadership, and acquisition support to offices throughout the company. In addition, she has led several acquisition integration teams.

Prior to joining BAYADA, Ms. Siessel served as director of social services and admissions for Care Pavilion of Walnut Park Nursing Home in Philadelphia, and as a social services designee at Golden Crest Skilled Nursing Facility, also in Philadelphia.

In 2012, Linda was honored for her numerous contributions to BAYADA Home Health Care when she was presented with the Linda Siessel Award for Excellence in Client Services Leadership. In tribute to Ms. Siessel, this award was established in her name and will be presented each year to a BAYADA client services manager who exemplifies Linda’s commitment to excellence and The BAYADA Way values of compassion, excellence, and reliability.

Ms. Siessel earned a master’s of education degree in psychoeducational processes and a bachelor’s degree in art and psychology at Temple University.

Michael Johnson

Michael P. Johnson is the Practice Leader for Home Health at BAYADA Home Health Care in Moorestown, NJ. The Home Health Practice is comprised of 90 offices in 15 states that provide care to over 11,000 clients weekly through a multidisciplinary team approach delivered by over 4,000 clinicians (RN, PT, OT, SLP, MSW, HHA) and staff. Dr. Johnson has served as a member of the National Advisory Council for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a Steering Group member for the AQA Alliance, and as a consultant on the development and testing of quality measurements for use in the Physician Quality Reporting System. He holds a BS in Physical Therapy from Northeastern University (Boston), an MS in Orthopedic Physical Therapy from MCP Hahnemann University (Philadelphia) and a PhD in Health Policy from the University of the Sciences (Philadelphia).

Stephanie Finnel

Stephanie Finnel is an Associate Director in the Marketing office at BAYADA Home Health Care. In this role, she provides marketing research and data analysis services to 300 BAYADA offices in 21 states. She oversees client experience surveying for all of BAYADA's Medicare certified offices, working with the offices to help them interpret their data and improve their clients' experience. Prior to BAYADA, Stephanie was a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, where she examined drivers of medication adherence. She earned her PhD in marketing at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.