Renowned Geriatrician Joins Ascension Senior Living as Chief Medical Officer

​Ascension Senior Living, one of the largest nonprofit senior living providers in the country, has named Kevin O'Neil, MD, FACP, CMD, as Chief Medical Officer effective October 31.

As part of the continued implementation of the Clinical Ministry-wide function and in partnership with the clinical leadership of Ascension and Ascension Senior Living, Dr. O'Neil will drive the clinical and quality strategy and goals of Ascension Senior Living, leading initiatives to improve clinical quality and outcomes, establish evidence-based practice standards, and enhance resident and provider experiences by delivering a better health experience, more affordably. He will also be responsible for the implementation of initiatives that measure, assess and improve the quality and consistency of care delivered to all residents of Ascension Senior Living. Dr. O'Neil will work with Ascension Senior Living community Executive Directors and Directors of Nursing to support and guide Medical Directors in service delivery and engagement in their local community.

He will integrate and align clinical resources and services and identify opportunities for coordinating care across the continuum while enhancing the aging experience of residents and program participants at Ascension Senior Living programs and communities. As part of Ascension's Clinical Ministry-wide Function, Dr. O'Neil will be part of the organization's Clinical Integration Committee and work in close partnership with Ziad Haydar, MD, MBA, Senior Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer, Ascension Health, other clinical leaders, and the Ascension Health Care Excellence team to build highly effective delivery models, promoting the value of service coordination and developing aging-friendly strategies to improve lives and lower the cost of healthcare for the elderly. He will also serve as the geriatric medicine lead for Ascension Health, the healthcare delivery subsidiary of Ascension.

"Dr. O'Neil is a recognized professional in the senior living and geriatric medicine fields. I am extremely happy that he has agreed to join us and help to integrate and align our clinical resources and services and identify opportunities for coordinating care across the continuum while enhancing the aging experience of residents and program participants at our programs and communities," said Jesse Jantzen, President and CEO Ascension Senior Living.

"I am impressed with the passion, dedication, vision and commitment to the quality of care and quality of life of older adults from the Ascension Senior Living team. I sincerely believe that, through Ascension Senior Living, we can help transform geriatric care in this country," said Dr. O'Neil.

For more than 30 years Dr. O'Neil has been a recognized leader in the senior living and geriatric medicine fields, having most recently served as vice president and chief medical officer for Brookdale Senior Living. He is also a clinical professor in the Department of Aging Studies at the University of South Florida, where he practiced internal medicine and geriatrics until 2005. He also served as the medical advisor for the Institute for Optimal Aging.

Dr. O'Neil previously held a teaching appointment as an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center and is currently a clinical professor in the Department of Aging Studies at the University of South Florida. He is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in both Internal Medicine and Geriatric Medicine and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and a member of the American Geriatrics Society. He has been awarded a CMD (Certified Medical Director) from the American Medical Directors Association and serves on the Board of Directors of AMDA — The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine. Dr. O'Neil also serves on the Board of Directors of the Senior Friendship Centers of Southwest Florida as Vice Chairman and Chairman-elect, and on the Board of First Step in Sarasota, Florida, which provides addiction recovery programs.

Dr. O'Neil serves on the editorial board of a peer-reviewed medical journal, The Medical Roundtable: General Medicine Edition. He is co-editor and a contributing writer to Optimal Aging Manual, which entertainer and author Art Linkletter called "the great master book for the boomers."

A graduate of Boston College and Georgetown University School of Medicine, he completed his internship in Internal Medicine at Washington Hospital Center and his residency at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center.