Cathy Ellis, PT at NRH has been elected to chair the Board of Directors of the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) for a one-year term beginning January 1, 2009.  Ms. Ellis is the Director of Inpatient PT, OT, TR and Voc Rehab at NRH as well as the Clinical Director of the Spinal Cord Program.

Founded in 1966, CARF International is an independent, nonprofit accreditor of human service providers in the areas of aging services, behavioral health, child and youth services, DMEPOS, employment and community services, medical rehabilitation, and opioid treatment programs. CARF accredits over 5,000 providers in the United States, Canada, Western Europe, South America, and the South Pacific, serving more than 7.1 million persons annually.

“CARF-accredited programs are growing internationally,” said Ellis, on her appointment at the organization’s November 21 meeting. “I look forward to working with our President/CEO, Brian Boon, and our accomplished and talented board of directors to grow CARF accreditation services and to meaningfully improve the lives of persons served in health and human services.”

Ellis was seated on the CARF Board of Directors in 2006, and she served on the CARF Board of Trustees, forerunner of the CARF Board of Directors, from 2000 through 2005. She has 28 years of experience in acute, inpatient, outpatient and home care rehabilitation settings, including 14 years of experience directing therapy services for patients at NRH.

She is knowledgeable about all inpatient rehabilitation and therapy services provided at NRH across the care continuum and among different settings. She also maintains the continuity of clinical care within the National Capital Spinal Cord Injury Model System (NCSCIMS), a program through which NRH and five of the country’s top rehabilitation facilities work together to identify best practices in SCI rehabilitation.

Ellis has also represented the American Physical Therapy Association on many committees working with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. She currently serves as a clinical instructor in health care sciences at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences and serves on the advisory board of the physical therapy program at Marymount University. Before joining the NRH in 1985, she was in practice for eight years at George Washington University Hospital.