Schor named 2017 Medical Director of the Year

Photo Courtesy of Renee Glick
The Society of Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine Foundation Chairman Dr. Paul Katz, left, presents Dr. Joshua Schor, medical director at Daughters of Israel, with a plaque naming him the 2017 Medical Director of the Year.

WEST ORANGE, NJ — Dr. Joshua Schor, medical director at Daughters of Israel in West Orange, was named the 2017 Medical Director of the Year by The Society of Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine. He was presented with the award during the society’s annual conference in Phoenix, Ariz., on March 17.

“Identifying one individual to honor as Medical Director of the Year is challenging. I talk to practitioners every day who are deserving of recognition for their commitment, passion, and leadership. Dr. Schor has all of these qualities and more,” society Executive Director Christopher Laxton said in a press release.

Schor is an active, involved medical director at Daughters of Israel, where he has served in that role since 2001. In 2014, he established an interdisciplinary wound care team, which put into place new protocols and equipment, as well as creating a liaison with an external wound specialist who visits once eacj week. As result, the facility’s wound numbers showed improvement, and staff have seen dramatic improvement in the healing of complex wounds.

According to Susan Grosser, executive director of Daughters of Israel, “Dr. Schor is an integral part of our team and helps keep our home running. He is also one of the most caring human beings one will come across, and it is evident in his treatment of our residents, staff and family members. I am extremely fortunate to be able to work with someone of his caliber. He is simply one of the most wonderful people in this world.”

Under Schor’s leadership, Daughters of Israel participates in a training course to reduce catheter-associated urinary tract infections. As a result, the center has achieved a zero-percent CAUTI rate. Recently, he started a program called “Caring Conversations” though a New Jersey Council for the Humanities grant that brings staff together to talk and share around a variety of issues to promote teamwork, communication and job satisfaction. Schor presented a session about this program at the conference.

Anticipating the growing need for quality post-acute care, Schor played a leadership role in creating a separate Rehab Center at Daughters of Israel, which opened in 2009.

“Post-acute has changed dramatically,” Schor said in the release. “Our post-acute patients sometimes have ‘routine’ issues like joint replacements but often have more complex issues like advanced cancer taking expensive biologic and chemotherapy agents. We have to care for these patients expertly and humanely to minimize them being readmitted to the hospital while addressing prognoses realistically with families.”

A longtime member of the society, which has nearly 5,000 members, Schor currently serves on the membership committee and is past-president of the New Jersey Medical Directors Association. He is an enthusiastic educator and often presents in-service programs for staff and educational presentations to a variety of groups. He is the author of the book, “The Nursing Home Guide: A Doctor Reveals What You Need to Know About Long-Term Care.” He is also a consultant senior medical director for Optum Complex Care, a geriatric division of UnitedHealth Group.

The Medical Director of the Year Award, established in 2007, recognizes those individuals whose vision, passion, leadership and commitment succeed in taking patient care in the facilities they serve as medical directors to exceptional levels of quality, excellence and innovation.