Mary is a pioneer in the design, evaluation, and spread of health care innovations that have significantly improved the outcomes of chronically ill older adults and their family caregivers, while reducing health care costs. Her work in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team of clinical scholars and health services researchers has resulted in the Transitional Care Model, a cost-effective advanced practice nurse-led model to improve the transitions of older adults who are navigating complex and often fragmented systems of care.
She also has worked tirelessly to advocate for evidence-based changes in health care practices and policies across the globe. As a member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, for example, she advised the U.S. Congress on policies designed to offer a more promising future for Medicare beneficiaries. As a result, the use of evidence-based transitional care is now included in multiple policies designed to foster health care delivery and payment reforms, including several provisions of the 2010 Affordable Care Act.
She earned her BSN from Villanova University, MSN and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.