The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) is a non-profit organization. Its history spans more than 25 years of independent and cooperative efforts by many national organizations, all dedicated to high quality ambulatory health care. The AAAHC is a leader in ambulatory health care accreditation and serves as an advocate for the provision and documentation of high quality health services in ambulatory health care organizations. This is accomplished through the development of standards and through its survey and accreditation programs.
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Dr. Joseph S. Carey, M.D. is a Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeon. He has served as a Clinical Professor at UCLA and is currently Clinical Professor of Surgery at UC Irvine. Since entering private practice, he has held appointments as Chairman of the Thoracic Surgery Sections at Santa Monica and Saint Johns Hospital in Santa Monica, Centinela Hospital in Inglewood, and Torrance Memorial Hospital and Providence-Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance. He currently has active staff privileges at Torrance Memorial, Providence-LCOM, Harbor-UCLA and Hoag Memorial Hospital in Newport Beach.

Dr. Carey has served as a member of the National Database and Standards and Ethics Committees of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, and has served on the Society's Council on Quality Assurance and Patient Advocacy. As a member, he has addressed quality issues in thoracic surgery programs at a national level, and has served as visiting reviewer at hospitals in California as well as other states. He has managed quality improvement programs funded by private foundations, and has published papers on practice standards and processes of care in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery.

CARL BRYANT, RN, CLNC is a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant with more than 20 years of experience in the health care industry and 12 years of case review and investigative experience.

Cornerstone Medical Legal Consulting assists Attorneys-Clients and/or Health Care Providers by screening of investigating cases for merit while defining compliance to regulatory codes, professional practices and community standards.

Areas of Expertise

Consultant and Expert Witness

Review, analysis, and summarization of depositions, witness reports or other work products

Serve as liaison between attorney-client, health care providers, testifying experts, parties witnesses and other consultants

Preparation of witnesses and experts

Preparation of interrogatories for cross or direct examination or other work products

Provision of simple or in-depth reports

Identification and recommendation of potential defendants

Coordination and attendance of me

Dr. David A. Libert specializes in Family Practice Medicine and also treats personal injury cases. He has been a practicing physician in the Orlando area since 1985. He has held the position of team physician for the Orlando Predators, practicing physician, and medical director at several area medical centers. Owner of First Choice Medical Center, he is currently in private family practice.

Dr. Libert has experience in family practice and disability medicine and offers his consulting services to the legal and insurance communities for both plaintiff and defense cases.

Services Offered:

Medical Record Review Analysis

Identification of Standards of Care

Causation & Damage Issues

Definition of Medical Terms & Procedures

Collaboration for Interrogatory Development

Expert Witness Deposi

Dr. Jimmy Y. Chung, MD, FACS, CHCQM, is certified as a Surgeon by the American Board of Surgery, and in Health Care Quality and Management by the American Board of Quality Assurance and Utilization Review Physicians. Dr. Chung is also a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a founder of Surgical Associates of Monterey Bay and Vein Clinic of Monterey Bay.

Clinical Specialties include general, laparoscopic, thoracic, complex cancer surgery, and vascular surgery, including varicose vein treatment, with special emphasis on minimally invasive techniques for anti-reflux, gall bladder and breast surgery, endocrine surgery, and complex gastrointestinal cases.

Non-Clinical Specialties include Physician Leadership, Medical Staff Bylaws and Self-Governance, Physician Credentialing, Peer Review, Medical Records Review, Healthcare Legislation, Joint Commission Compliance, Organized Medicine, and Quality and Core Measures.

Professional Associations:

• Diplomate, American Board of Surgery
• American College of Surgeons
• American Medical Association
• California Medical Association, Board of Trustees
• Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons
• Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES)
• American Hernia Society
• American College of Phlebology

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Healthcare Consulting, Public Health, Preventive Medicine, Expert Medical Witness Consulting

Dr. Joel L. Nitzkin is a Public Health Physician, Board Certified in Preventive Medicine. He has been the Director of local and state health departments, President of two national public health organizations and Board member and Chair of the Board Evaluation Committees of several hospital enterprizes and healthcare plans.

As a consultant, I have served as a "Mr. Fix-it" for broken, dysfunctional or sub-optimal preventive and ancillary service programs and as a general aid to addressing accreditation and licensure issues. The secret to my success is my unique combination of medical knowledge, epidemiological skill and policy/management/finance training and experience.

Dr. John Shershow is a nationally known expert in all aspects of Hospital and Clinic Administration. In his nearly 20 years of experience as a Senior Hospital Executive and Healthcare Consultant, Dr. Shershow has surveyed or consulted to hundreds of hospitals, both as an accreditation surveyor for JCAHO and as a private consultant for hospitals nationwide.

Dr. Shershow has been Medical Director of two prestigious hospitals and an Associate Dean of a nationally known medical school. He is Board Certified and was educated at Harvard, Yale and the University of Southern California.

Areas Of Expertise Include:

Hospital Administration Staffing Quality of Care JCAHO Accreditation Medical Quality Assessment and Review Medical Staff Affairs Hospital And Ambulatory Standards of Care

Patient Rights Health Care Risk Management Medical Quality Assurance Administrative Medicine Peer Review JCAHO Standards Physician Credentialing & Privileging

Dr. Luiz Hargreaves, AAS, MD, Msc is a qualified Expert in Crisis Management, Disaster Planning and Response, Health Care Management and Travel Medicine. He is a Medical Doctor, Political Scientist (Msc), and Crisis Manager, with 25 years of experience in Disaster and Emergency Planning for Corporations, Public Events, Public Safety and Couterterrorism.

Dr. Hargreaves currently serves as Director of the Medical Department at the Brazilian House of Representatives and is Professor and Coordinator of the Crisis Management Graduate Certificate Program at the Gama Filho University - Posead. He is also the Coordinator of the Executive MBA Program in Health Care Management at the Faculdade da Grande Fortaleza - Posead.

Graduate Certificates in Strategic Management and Quality, Strategic Intelligence, Emergency Medicine and Civil Defense Planning and Management.

Languages Spoken: Portuguese, English, Spanish, French, and Italian.

Areas of Expertise:

Crisis Management

Public Safety

Emergency Preparedness

Disaster Response and Recovery

Health Care and Hospital Management

Hospital Disaster Plan

Travel Medicine

Emergency Planning for Mass Gathering Events

Counterterrorism

Political Analysis

Corporate Intelligence

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Carlos Torres, M.D. provides Expert Witness Services in the areas of Gastrointestinal Pathology, Liver Pathology, and Tumor (cancer) Pathology.

Dr. Torres is the current Director of Quality Assurance at Caris Life Sciences. He is an active participant in clinical research projects, the Medical Advisory Committee, and supports the pathology team through daily high-volume case sign-out, participating at the peer review consensus conference and providing numerous intradepartmental consults.

Dr. Torres was instrumental in helping start a rather unique model of GI subspecialty-focused anatomic pathology laboratory. Dr. Torres has spent the last ten years contributing to the success and growth of the operation, with the principle of providing the highest standards of patient care and service to GI clinicians.

Background:

Former Assistant Professor and Director, Gastrointestinal and Liver Pathology: University of Texas Medical Center

Gastrointestinal Pathology Fellowship: Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School

Surgical Pathology Fellowship: M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Anatomic Pathology Residency: Barnes Hospital/Washington University

Dr. Samuel H. Steinberg, MBA, PhD, FACHE is a Board Certified Hospital Administrator with over 35 years of experience, including 10 years as a hospital chief executive officer. Early in his career he became interested in Risk Management and has created an evidence based methodology for Hospital Risk Management.

Dr. Steinberg's Risk Management methodology identifies health care activities that create hazards that cause many malpractice cases. This proactive approach allows health care executives to focus on the right issues and build upon the risk management program already in place. Evidence-based risk management seeks to eliminate the causes of many corporate negligence cases by looking at administrative processes, such as policies and procedures, physician credentialing, the handling of critical test values and compliance with accreditation and licensure standards.

View Expert Witness Profile.

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