Amy Berman, RN, LHD (hon), FAAN

Amy Berman, RN, LHD (hon), FAAN

Senior Program Officer (currently on leave)

Amy Berman is a Senior Program Officer with The John A. Hartford Foundation. She works on the Foundation’s development and dissemination of innovative, cost-effective models of care that improve health outcomes for older adults. Among these efforts, Ms. Berman is responsible for the Foundation’s work to advance Age-Friendly Health Systems, led by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, in partnership with the American Hospital Association and the Catholic Health Association of the United States. She also leads many of the Foundation’s efforts focused on Serious Illness and End of Life including efforts to support palliative care.

Ms. Berman openly shares her experiences living with Stage IV breast cancer. She has testified before the United States Senate Special Committee on Aging and has authored numerous pieces about her health care choices, palliative care and implications for patients, practice and policy. Her piece in Health Affairs, “Living Life In My Own Way—And Dying That Way As Well,” was among the journal’s most read. She has been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, and on NPR’s Diane Rehm Show. The Foundation can be followed on Twitter as @johnahartford and Ms. Berman’s personal Twitter is @notesonnursing.

Prior to the Foundation, Ms. Berman served as Nursing Education Initiatives Director for the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing at New York University College of Nursing. Among her responsibilities at New York University, Ms. Berman developed resources and programs to improve the geriatric expertise of nursing educators and clinicians. She conducted a national survey on gerontological nursing content in baccalaureate programs cited in the Institute on Medicine’s report, “Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Health Care Workforce.”

Before joining New York University, Ms. Berman worked in home health care administration for twenty years with responsibility for quality improvement, health information technology, accreditation, and regulatory compliance. She served as JCAHO coordinator and as accreditation consultant in performance improvement for a variety of health care institutions. Ms. Berman served on the New York State Department of Health's Emergency Preparedness Task Force and on professional advisory boards of health care institutions in New York City.

Ms. Berman is an appointed member of NQF’s Geriatrics and Palliative Care Measures Committee and was appointed to CMS’ Partnership for Patients’ Patient and Family Engagement Network and the Aging Task Force for Healthy People 2020. She is a member of the American Academy of Nursing, the Gerontological Society of America, the American Geriatrics Society and the international honor society of nursing, Sigma Theta Tau.

Ms. Berman has been the recipient of numerous honors for her advocacy on behalf of older adults and those facing serious illness. She received the President’s Award from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, the CAPC Innovation Award from the Center to Advance Palliative Care, the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association Champion Award, the Presidential Award from the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, the President’s Award from the National League for Nursing for reshaping nursing education, the Civitas Award from the American Academy of Nursing for her policy and advocacy efforts, the Terrance Keenan Leadership Award in Health Philanthropy from Grantmakers in Health and the American Public Health Association's Health Politics and Policy Section award for public service and advocacy. The international honor society of nursing, Sigma Theta Tau, established the Amy J. Berman Geriatric Nurse Leadership Award in 2012, which is awarded at their biennial meeting. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from New York University College of Nursing, a Bachelor of Science degree in health care administration from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Quinnipiac University, and a Geriatric Scholar Certificate from the Consortium of New York Geriatric Education Centers.

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