Patton Consultants:
Nancy Abrusley, RN
Nurse Consultant
Nancy Karam Abrusley, RN, is a healthcare consultant with 30+ years of extensive experience assisting organizations throughout the United States and Germany, including 13 years as a Consultant at Joint Commission Resources.
She has worked with over 450 hospitals, home care agencies, hospice, and ambulatory services conducting mock surveys, patient and system “tracers” in addition to follow–up services based upon findings.
Ernest Allen, ARM, CSP, CPHRM, CHFM
Life Safety Code Consultant
Ernie is a Certified Safety Professional and has his Associate in Risk Management from the Insurance Institute of America. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Safety from Central State University of Missouri. He is also a Certified Professional in Healthcare Risk Management and a Certified Healthcare Facility Manager.
Stephen Anderson, MBA, BSN, RN, LFACHE, CJCP
Nurse Consultant
Stephen Anderson, MBA, BSN, RN, LFACHE, CJCP has more than 40 years of experience in health care administration, including expertise in clinical and executive management, performance improvement measuring, and patient safety with an expertise in hospital, ambulatory care, patient safety and performance improvement consulting.
Debra “Deblynn” Austin, FNP, MSN
Senior Consultant
Debra “Deblynn” Austin, FNP, MSN is an accreditation and regulatory compliance surveyor with over 40 successful years of healthcare industry expertise. Most recently, Ms. Austin served as a distinguished Nurse Surveyor for The Joint Commission (TJC). For a decade, she evaluated quality and safety measures across hospitals, ambulatory settings, and long-term acute care facilities. In this role, she played a critical part in ensuring that patient safety and quality of care met the highest national standards.
Jason Beers, MS, CHFM, CLSS-HC, CFI-I
Life Safety Code Consultant
Jason Beers, MS, CHFM, CLSS-HC, CFI-I, is a healthcare facilities compliance expert with over 20 years of experience in regulatory compliance, fire and life safety, environment of care, and emergency management. He has a deep understanding of applicable codes and standards, including NFPA, IBC, OSHA, CMS, and The Joint Commission.
Kenneth Blackwell, CHFM, CHSP
Life Safety Code Consultant
Kenneth Blackwell, CHFM, CHSP is an experienced Environment of Care and Life Safety Code Engineer who has been in the health care industry for 20+ years and has surveyed over 700 healthcare facilities. His expertise includes healthcare regulatory compliance, Life Safety Plan Review, operations management, strategic planning, business process improvement, team building, and robust process improvement.
Harold Blits, CHSP
Life Safety Code Consultant
Mr. Blits has been involved in healthcare for more than thirty years, in both the clinical and administrative activities associated with the delivery of healthcare. He has consulted for more than twentyfive years assisting more than 150 organizations with accreditation needs.
Robert “Bob” Booth, MPH, CIH
Life Safety Code Consultant
Robert “Bob” Booth, MPH, CIH, has over 30 years healthcare compliance experience in infection control, industrial hygiene, and public health. His areas of experience include AHCA (State of Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration), CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) and TJC (The Joint Commission) compliance, medical risk management, surgical safety, infection control, and employee health. He holds graduate degrees in Public Health and Infection Disease Prevention.
Lena Browning Calloway, MHA, BSN, RNC-NIC, CSHA
Nurse Consultant
Lena Browning Calloway is a nurse leader and accreditation specialist with more than twenty years of experience in clinical leadership in acute care settings. Throughout her career, she has demonstrated a commitment to improving patient safety by empowering staff and leadership to maintain continuous compliance and achieve excellence in patient care across healthcare settings.
Kristine Corradetti Smith, RN, MSN, CPPS
Nurse Consultant
Kristine Corradetti Smith, RN, MSN, CPPS is a Registered Nurse and auditor with over 25 years of experience in the healthcare industry. She has a wide range of experience which includes a clinical background in surgical critical care, procedural sedation and peri-operative care and administrative experience as Senior Director of Quality/Regulatory for Steward Health System, Director of Patient Safety and Patient Safety Officer at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach.
Elise Gropper, PhD, RN, CPHQ, NEA-BC
Nurse Consultant
Elise Gropper specializes in the areas of Joint Commission accreditation, CMS regulatory compliance, ANCC Magnet Recognition Program®, CARF accreditation, staff development, performance improvement, and patient care redesign. Elise Gropper has served as a consultant to hospitals, behavioral health organizations, home health agencies, long-term care facilities, ambulatory care centers, surgi-centers and physician offices since 1995.
Mark Halal, LCSW
Clinical Consultant
Mark Halal, LCSW has provided behavioral healthcare consulting support nationwide to psychiatric hospitals, addictions and behavioral health organizations seeking to achieve and maintain Joint Commission accreditation and CMS compliance. As a consultant, Mr. Halal conducts training, gap analysis, and mock surveys for his clients and provides them with hands-on direction and technical assistance pertaining to Joint Commission survey processes, compliance, and standards on quality and safety.
Paul Jennings, PE
Life Safety Code Consultant
Paul Jennings, PE is a Life Safety Code surveyor and consultant, with over 40 years of engineering experience. He most recently was the Associate Vice President for Facilities and Engineering at Montefiore Medical Center and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx.
Nancy Kendrick, RN, MS
Nurse Consultant
Nancy has as extensive background and career in nursing through progressive education from an Associate’s Degree in Nursing, Bachelor of Nursing Science to a Masters Degree in Health Care Administration. Her work history includes hospitals, community health centers, and occupational health in the manufacturing industry, home care and accreditation organizations.
Margherita Labson, RN, BSN, MSHSA, CPHQ
Nurse Consultant
Margherita Labson, is an expert in home care quality, legal, accreditation, and regulatory issues across the home care continuum who comes with over 45+ years in the healthcare industry. As a veteran health care professional, she has specialized in the provision of home care services since 1977 from both multi-operational and academic perspectives.
Gloria Legere, RN, MS, JD, CPHQ, CISCI
Nurse Consultant
Gloria Legere is a hospital accreditation and patient safety consultant. Gloria has been a member of the Patton Healthcare Consulting team since 2012. Her focus is assisting clients to develop practical, long term strategies for continuous readiness with Joint Commission, CMS and AAAHC compliance. Previously, she was a consultant with the Greeley Company where she also provided accreditation and patient safety expertise.
Kathy Leonard, RN, BSN, MSN, FACHE
Nurse Consultant
Mary “Kathy” Leonard, RN, BSN, MSN has more than 50 fruitful years of experience in the healthcare industry carrying a successful performance in various settings, including a 19-year tenure with The Joint Commission that concluded in 2024.
William “Bill” Lord Jr., BSPharm
Clinical Consultant
William “Bill” Lord Jr., BSPharm, has upheld an extensive healthcare career spanning more than 30 years and stands out as a seasoned pharmacist, dynamic corporate executive, and insightful consultant known for his leadership strength. He specializes in key areas such as regulatory compliance, pharmacy automation, and legal affairs, alongside having a deep focus on policy creation, operational enhancement, and compliance with USP Chapters <797>, <800>, and <795>.
Kenneth W McGraw, CHSP
Life Safety Code Consultant
Ken McGraw, CHSP, comes to Patton Healthcare Consulting with an extensive 35+ year career in healthcare including ten years as a Life Safety Code surveyor and with five years as a Life Safety Code Specialist at The Joint Commission.
Andy Morley, MD, FAAFP
Physician Consultant
Before joining Patton Healthcare Consulting, Inc., Dr. Morley was a Joint Commission Physician Surveyor for 9 years, leaving TJC in 2019. Dr. Morley has expertise in surveying hospitals, critical access, DoD, VA, and Primary Care medical facilities. During his tenure at TJC, he participated in the development of and teaching in the new training program for new surveyors as well as serving on the editorial board for the Leading Practice Library. Dr, Morley served as Team leader for many large healthcare systems including Mayo Clinic and HCA.
DeAnn Richards, RN, BSN, CIC, LTC-CIP, CPHQ, CPPS
Nurse Consultant
DeAnn Richards has worked in Infection Prevention and Occupational Health for over 27 years. She has an Associate Degree in both Occupational Therapy and Nursing, followed by her bachelor’s in nursing. Her previous experience in patient safety and quality included being a regional lead at Lake Superior Quality Innovation Network to support the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) priorities for health care quality improvement. Through a subcontracted with the Wisconsin Hospital Association, she also supported the Hospital Improvement Innovation Networks (HIIN).
Jared Shapiro, DrPH, MPH, CEM, HEM, FAcEM, CBCP, CHSP, CHFM, NRP
Life Safety Consultant
Jared Shapiro, is a Life Safety Consultant with Patton Healthcare Consulting. In this capacity, he provides Joint Commission and CMS related consultation to Barrins & Associates clients nationwide. His expertise is in the areas of Life Safety Code compliance as well as Joint Commission and CMS standards for the Environment of Care and Emergency Management. Dr. Shapiro is an accomplished healthcare executive with 17 years’ experience in healthcare operations, operational management, regulatory compliance, and performance improvement.
Emily Smith, BSN, RN, SCRN
Nurse Consultant
Emily is a dedicated healthcare professional with a passion for stroke patient care and experience in stroke program management and quality improvement. Her career began as a Registered Nurse in the ICU at Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center from January 2015 to September 2021, where she cared for critically ill patients, served as a charge nurse, preceptor, and STAT/Stroke RN responder.
Andre Perlo, RRT, MBA
Clinical Consultant
Andre Perlo is a Registered Respiratory Therapist, licensed to practice in the state of Florida. He entered the field of Respiratory Care in 1973 following his graduation from the University of Massachusetts at Boston. He became registered and certified by the NBRC in 1974. His Respiratory Care experience started as a staff therapist in a community hospital and ended as director of Respiratory Care for a 600-bed regional institution. In 1981, following a successful career within the hospital setting, he entered the home care arena, never to look back.
Susan Seeley, RN, MSN, NEA-BC
Nurse Consultant
Susan Seeley has over 40 years of experience in the healthcare industry both as a nurse leader and as a clinical consultant with a focus on patient care services and regulatory compliance.
Susan A. Sullivan, MBA, MLS(ASCP)SBB, CQA(ASQ)
Laboratory Consultant
Susan A. Sullivan, MBA, MLS(ASCP)SBB, CQA(ASQ) brings 25+ years’ experience as an industry laboratory leader. From her role as a multi-facility administrative Director of Laboratory Operations, Ms. Sullivan has been successful in assisting institutions navigate the regulatory requirements of Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA), College of American Pathologists (CAP), Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies (AABB), The Joint Commission (TJC), and Commission on Office Laboratory Accreditation (COLA).
Paul Vilar, MSN, RN, SCRN
Nurse Consultant
Paul Vilar joined the Aurora Health Care in 2007 as a Registered Nurse. He holds a master’s degree in Nursing, Clinical Nurse Specialist tract, from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. Over the last 3 years, he has served as the System Stroke Program Director for Aurora Health Care WI hospitals. Prior to this system position, he was a stroke program manager at Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center (ASLMC), a 600+ bed Comprehensive Stroke Certified medical center…
Allison Walker, MS, APRN-CNP
Nurse Consultant
Allison H. Walker, MS, APRN-CNP is a Nurse Executive and current Orthopedic Nurse Practitioner with over 15 years of healthcare experience. Ms. Walker comes to Patton Healthcare Consulting as an Orthopedic Disease Specific Care (DSC) Certification Reviewer as she was a former DSC Certification Reviewer at The Joint Commission for nearly eight (8) years.
Senior Leadership:
Lauren Donaldson
Operations Director
Ms. Lauren Donaldson joined Patton Healthcare Consulting in 2016 as the Marketing and Operations Manager and was promoted to Director in 2019. Following the acquisition of Patton by HBS in 2022, she expanded her responsibilities to include oversight of both Patton Healthcare Consulting and Barrins & Associates, supporting the formation of one of the nation’s premier Accreditation and Regulatory Compliance (ARC) consulting teams.
Lindsey Cowel
Operations Manager
Lindsey Cowel joined Patton Healthcare Consulting in 2015 as a Project Manager and in 2021, became the Operations Manager. In the same year, Patton Healthcare Consulting merged with Barrins & Associates and Lindsey now oversees operations for both companies.
Brooke Jones
Marketing and Business Development Associate
Ms. Brooke Jones was welcomed to the Patton Healthcare Consulting team in 2022 as the Project Coordinator and promoted to Marketing and Business Development Associate in 2025. Her main role consists of drafting and editing client contracts, managing expense reports, and scheduling client surveys. She ensures consistency and comprehensiveness across databases, while providing excellent client service.