Perspectives in Long Term Care

About Perspectives in Long Term Care

An original podcast series produced by the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living, created specifically for leaders in the long term and post-acute care profession.

Publisher

American Health Care Association

Category

business · health & fitness

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

19 Jun 2023

Latest episode

9 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

40 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   9 Sept 2026

   Wellness First: Building a Value-Based Care Model

   In this episode, host Debbie Stadtler welcomes Irene Borgen, PhD, MBA, MSN, MJ, FACHE, RN, vice president of innovation and clinical partnerships at Sunrise Senior Living, for a conversation about why value-based care represents an important inflection point for assisted living. Irene explains how the shift from fee-for-service to outcomes-focused care aligns with Sunrise’s wellness-first approach and the evolving expectations of residents and families. She shares how Sunrise established baseline measures around hospitalizations, emergency room visits, readmissions, falls, polypharmacy and satisfaction before developing a relationship-based model that brings clinical partners into communities while preserving residents’ choice of primary care provider. The conversation explores the realities of implementing this model, from change management and team training to consistent measurement and selecting the right partners. Irene also discusses how value-based care can benefit residents and families while strengthening care teams, referral relationships and business outcomes such as occupancy and retention. Perspectives in Long Term Care is produced by Association Briefings. Transcript Debbie Stadtler: Superior clinical outcomes for residents, increased family trust, and better metrics for your facility? That's the promise of value-based care in assisted living. Learn how to get started with Irene Borgen in this episode of Perspectives in Long-Term Care. Hi, I'm Debbie Stadtler, editor-in-chief of Provider Magazine, the flagship publication of the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living. I'd like to welcome you to this episode of Perspectives in Long-Term Care, a monthly podcast produced by AHCA and NCAL. Each month, we'll talk with long-term care and assisted living professionals about the opportunities and challenges impacting the long-term and post-acute care profession. My guest today is Irene Borgan. Irene serves as vice president of innovation and clinical partnerships at Sunrise Senior Living. She is a registered nurse, a licensed nursing home administrator, a board-certified nurse executive, a certified professional in health care quality, and a fellow of the American College of Health Care Executives. Welcome, Irene. Thanks for being with us. Irene Borgen: Thank you, Debbie. Thank you so much for having me. Debbie Stadtler: Well, let's start at the beginning. Tell us about your career journey. What led you to get started in long-term care? Irene Borgen: I joined Sunrise just over three years ago after spending more than two decades in the broader health care industry. I started my career as a clinician and gradually moved into hospital administration and executive leadership with an increased focus on operations, quality and safety, care transformation, population health, and most recently, value-based care. Over the years, I've worked across hospital, home care, skilled nursing, ambulatory, and health insurance settings, and have been very fortunate to bring that experience with me to Sunrise. Today, I have the opportunity to help advance Sunrise's strategy around innovation and clinical partnerships, and to think about how we can apply value-based care principles within senior living while continuing to strengthen our person-centric holistic approach to wellness. Debbie Stadtler: So Irene, tell me about your organization. When did value-based care first come onto your organization's radar, and what made you realize this was something that assisted living could not afford to ignore? Irene Borgen: Let me start with a bit about us and how this fits in a much bigger ship. Sunrise is one of the largest senior living operators in the US with some communities in Canada. We have around 240 communities currently. We offer independent living, assisted living, some skilled nursing, and are serving around 20,000 residents. Wow. And we've always been an organization focused on

2. 

   13 Aug 2026

   Keeping Pace with a Changing Reimbursement Landscape

   In this episode, host Debbie Stadtler welcomes John Kane, senior vice president of reimbursement policy at AHCA/NCAL, to discuss how reimbursement policy directly impacts the resources providers have to deliver quality care and the challenge of keeping pace with an ever-changing policy landscape. Kane explores the development of the Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM), its shift from volume-based reimbursement to a model centered on patient characteristics, and the challenges states face when adapting PDPM for Medicaid populations. He also examines major Medicaid changes under H.R. 1, ongoing Medicare Advantage challenges related to access and payment, and the growing regulatory demands facing facilities. The conversation highlights why staying informed and engaged is increasingly important as reimbursement continues to evolve toward value-based care. Perspectives in Long Term Care is produced by Association Briefings. Transcript Debbie Stadtler: Hi, I'm Debbie Stadtler, editor-in-chief of Provider Magazine, the flagship publication of the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living. I'd like to welcome you to this episode of Perspectives in Long term Care, a monthly podcast produced by AHCA and NCAL. Each month, we'll talk with long term care and assisted living professionals about the opportunities and challenges impacting the long term and post-acute care profession. My guest today is John Kane. John is the senior vice president of reimbursement policy at AHCA and NCAL. Prior to this, he spent almost 15 years at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Welcome, John. Thanks for being with us. John Kane: Thank you very much, Debbie. It's a pleasure to be here. Debbie Stadtler: We like to start at the beginning. So tell us how you got involved in long term care. How did your career lead you to where you are today? John Kane: A combination of things probably. I think one part of the journey started back years ago when I was studying philosophy of all things... and had every intention of becoming a college professor: teaching, publishing, sipping wine. And but I found that as I was talking with my colleagues, and I would be asking questions that they didn't seem to really care much about. We would be talking about health policy, and I would ask questions like, "Well, how are we gonna pay for that?" Or "How are providers going to implement this?" And they didn't really seem to care, and I realized at that point I wanted to do something that was more applied and less theoretical. And at the same time, as a matter of coincidence, I was actually working at a facility in Blacksburg, Virginia, Five Stars Warm Hearth, shout out. Nothing glamorous but very important role. I worked in the kitchen. And I'll tell you that trying to make a soft liquid diet palatable takes a lot of skill. But my experience there also helped me to see the daily struggle of the people that were working in that industry and the amount of passion that they brought to it and really just dedicating their lives to valuing the lives of seniors. And I loved being a part of it, even a small part. And as I was there, I felt like there was more that I could do, and I wanted to get deeper into it. And so that eventually led me into the deeper areas of health policy and eventually led me to CMS. Debbie Stadtler: I love that story. A little hands-on kitchen experience really leads you to your greater purpose in health policy and helping those in long term care. I love that story. John Kane: I like to think that I've done more not burning people's food than- Debbie Stadtler: Always important. Your background includes years spent working at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, what we know as CMS. What's that like working on the government side of reimbursement, and how did that time kind of influence your views? John Kane: My time at CMS was some of the most formative and memorable time of my life, es

3. 

   14 Jul 2026

   Reflecting on the Past, Preparing for the Future

   In this episode, host Debbie Stadtler welcomes James Carlson, senior reimbursement advisor at AHCA/NCAL, and Nicolette Reilly, senior vice president of quality at the Oregon Health Care Association, for a conversation about the evolution of assisted living over the past four decades. They reflect on the origins of the assisted living model, how the definition of quality has expanded to focus on resident experience and continuous improvement, and the balance between regulation and innovation. The discussion also explores the role of NCAL in advancing the profession and looks ahead to the future of assisted living, including emerging technologies, workforce development, personalized care, and changing consumer expectations. Perspectives in Long Term Care is produced by Association Briefings. Transcript Debbie Stadtler: Since its inception in the 1980s, assisted living has used innovation to redesign aging. Hear more about the evolution of assisted living, how quality has matured, and why the next 25 years may be the best yet. Hi, I'm Debbie Stadtler, editor-in-chief of Provider Magazine, the flagship publication of the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living. I'd like to welcome you to this episode of Perspectives in Long Term Care, a monthly podcast produced by AHCA and NCAL. Each month, we'll talk with long term care and assisted living professionals about the opportunities and challenges impacting the long term and post-acute care profession. My guests today are Jim Carlson and Nicolette Reilly. Jim is a senior reimbursement advisor at AHCA/NCAL, and he spent 30 years with the Oregon Health care Association, including 23 years as the CEO. Nicolette is the senior vice president of quality at the Oregon Health care Association. Welcome, Jim and Nicolette. Thanks for being with us. Jim Carlson: Good afternoon. Debbie Stadtler: Well, let's start at the beginning. Tell us about your career journey. What led you to get started in assisted living and long term care? Jim, do you want to kick us off there? Jim Carlson: Sure. I'd say probably my first interest really in health policy and all the issues related to Medicaid and Medicare and the economics and aging demographics was, I worked for an economics professor of mine in college when he ran for Congress. And we spent hours upon hours driving around the Fourth Congressional District in Oregon, and he had a particular interest in health care and health care economics. And since he was running for Congress, he had a particular interest in federal level issues, dealing with Medicaid and Medicare and health care economics. And so it piqued my interest. He ended up losing that race, but I ended up, after graduation, going to work for another member of Congress, and being low man on the totem pole on the staff, Medicaid and Medicare came into my portfolio. And so I really, from just a very young age, got very interested in federal health care finance and reimbursement programs and the economics, and I always had a real keen interest about demographics and the impact that had on the economy and society. Debbie Stadtler: Nicolette, how did you get started? Nicolette Reilly: My path was very different from Jim's. When I graduated with my undergraduate degree, I had a business minor, and right out of college, I started working as a finance and business office manager for a new assisted living in Fort Collins, Colorado. And as a very young, new into the profession, I never envisioned that my career would be in long term care. It just happened to be this door that opened up to me from a business perspective. So in 1995, I started out as a business office manager in an assisted living, and just over the years went from a business office manager to an assistant administrator to an administrator, and then to a regional ops person, and then a vice president of operations. Even did a stint as an owner/operator of an assisted living company a

Who has been a guest on Perspectives in Long Term Care

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Jalene Carpenter
• Zach Shamberg
• Tina Sandri

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

9,786,978

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

3.0 / 5

4 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 37 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

16

Social presence

0

YouTube

86

Engagement

60