Keeping the PACE
Fallon Health announced the recent appointment of Dr. Jean Jaoude as vice president and medical director of its Massachusetts Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), locally called Summit ElderCare. In this role, Jaoude is responsible for supervising the medical care delivery of approximately 1,400 participants enrolled in the organization’s five PACE centers in Massachusetts, located in Leominster, Lowell, Springfield, Webster, and Worcester.
The primary goal of PACE is to allow older adults to live independently in their homes and communities instead of a nursing home, while maintaining or enhancing their quality of life with a dedicated care team, transportation, full medical care, and opportunities for socialization.
Dr. Jean Jaoude brings deep experience in family medicine, geriatrics, hospice, and palliative care to his new role with Fallon Health’s PACE program.
Jaoude comes to Fallon Health with deep experience in family medicine, geriatrics, hospice, and palliative care. Most recently, he served as chief medical director of the Supportive and Palliative Care department within the ChristianaCare Health System in Newark, Del. Prior to that, he was chief medical officer for Baystate Home Health’s Hospice and Community Palliative Care division in Springfield. He has also served as a volunteer physician for free medical clinics for underserved populations in Iowa and was a missionary in South Africa providing education and free hospice care for underserved communities.
Jaoude is board-certified in family, geriatric, and hospice and palliative medicine. He earned his medical degree from Lebanese University in Lebanon and a master of health care administration degree from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. He also holds a medical director certification from the American Medical Assoc. Society for Post-acute and Long-term Care Medicine and completed the Physician Leadership Academy of the American College of Physician Executives at UnityPoint Clinic in Des Moines, Iowa. He is multi-lingual and is fluent in written and spoken Arabic, French, and English.
He is an active member of the American Assoc. for Physician Leadership, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Medical Director Assoc., the American Geriatrics Society, and the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, as well as the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.
The PACE model is centered on the core belief that given a choice, most elders, the disabled, and their families would choose to receive care in their homes and communities rather than in a nursing home. All PACE programs feature several essential components:
• An interdisciplinary team made up of healthcare and social-service professionals, such as doctors, nurse practitioners, physical and occupational therapists, social workers, and nurses;
• An individualized healthcare plan for each participant that outlines what services are needed to stay safe and healthy; and
• A PACE center that serves as the hub of services and activities, including a doctor’s office, rehabilitation gym, and social-work offices, as well as an activities center. Once enrolled in PACE, most medical services are provided at the PACE center, although services may be provided in the home or at another facility.
Backed by nearly 30 years of experience in PACE, Fallon Health boasts the largest PACE program in New England and among the largest in the country. The not-for-profit healthcare organization also operates a PACE program in Western New York.
