Joseph Shega, MD, Senior Vice President and National Medical Director has been promoted to Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for VITAS Healthcare, the nation’s leading provider of end-of-life care. Dr. Shega is responsible for overseeing and leading the medical direction for all VITAS locations in 14 states and the District of Columbia. Board Certified in Geriatric Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Medicine, he brings 20 years of relevant clinical experience.
Dr. Shega joined VITAS in 2013 as a Regional Medical Director and was promoted to Senior Vice President and National Medical Director in 2016. Prior to joining VITAS, Dr. Shega was an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago in the Section of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine doing clinical care and education along with clinical research with NIH funding. His clinical efforts included inpatient care at the University of Chicago hospitals, outpatient care at the Senior Health Center at South Shore, and Center for Comprehensive Care and Research on Memory Disorders and homecare through Horizon Hospice and Palliative Care.
The resident of Gotha, Florida, earned his bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry from Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois, and doctoral degree from Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, Illinois. He completed a residency in Internal Medicine Residency at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and earned a fellowship in Geriatric Medicine from the University of Chicago. He has over 40 peer-reviewed publications, serves on the National Academy of Sciences Roundtable for Persons with Serious Illness, and is an active member of American Geriatrics Society, American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.
VITAS Healthcare – 40 Years Strong
Established in 1978, VITAS Healthcare is a pioneer and leader in the American hospice movement. Headquartered in Miami, Florida, VITAS (pronounced VEE-tahs) operates 45 hospice programs in 14 states (California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin) and the District of Columbia. VITAS employs 11,914 professionals who care for terminally ill patients daily, primarily in the patients’ homes and also in the company’s 27 inpatient hospice units as well as in hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living communities/residential care facilities for the elderly. At the conclusion of the second quarter of 2018, VITAS reported an average daily census of 17,739.
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