Dr. Paul R. Rao is the vice president of Clinical Services and Quality Improvement, and Corporate Compliance at the National Rehabilitation Hospital (NRH) in Washington, DC, and has been a member of the NRH Bioethics Committee since its inception.
He wears a number of other hats, including being the Privacy Officer Liaison / HIPAA Coordinator, and a Visiting Professor at the University of Maryland; and sitting on the editorial board of Topics in Stroke Rehabilitation and Advance for Directors.
A prolific writer, he is the author of numerous articles and chapters on such topics as Customer Service, Policy and Procedures, Supervision, Health Literacy and Management. In 2005, and previously in 1999, he was the editor of the winter issue of Topics In Stroke Rehabilitation. He is also the primary editor of “Managing Stroke: A Guide to Living Well after Stroke,” published in 2000 by NRH Press and is the lead editor for the second edition of the text in 2008.
A sought after speaker on a variety of clinical and administrative topics, Dr. Rao has presented at more than 100 lectures in 30 states, Canada, and New Zealand. In 2007, he was the Commencement Speaker at the Boston University’s Sargent College; in 2002, he spoke at the graduation ceremony of University of Maryland’s Department of Hearing & Speech Sciences.
He has also received numerous awards for his work. In 1989 and again in 2001, the American Speech Language Hearing Foundation recognized Rao with its Clinical Achievement Award. In 1994, Dr. Rao was selected as NRH’s Manager of the Quarter, and received the Maryland Speech and Hearing Association’s Honors and Service Award.
Dr. Rao received his Bachelors Degree in Philosophy from St. Vincent College in Latrobe, PA., his Masters in Speech Pathology from Catholic University in Washington, D.C., and his Ph.D. in Hearing and Speech Science from the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland.
About the National Rehabilitation Hospital
National Rehabilitation Hospital specializes in treating persons with physical disabilities caused by spinal cord and head injuries, stroke, arthritis, amputation, multiple sclerosis, post-polio syndrome, and other neurological and orthopedic conditions.
It has grown from a single hospital to The NRH Medical Rehabilitation Network providing inpatient and outpatient care and day treatment programs. The network provides nearly 200,000 ambulatory visits annually in addition to the hospitals more than 1,700 inpatient admissions. Physicians nationwide consistently rank NRH among Americas Best Hospitals, as reported by U.S. News & World Report.
NRH Regional Rehab is our physical rehabilitation network, offering convenient and comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation services in the District of Columbia, Baltimore and suburban Maryland. Services are designed especially for people who are able to live at home but require ongoing or periodic medical care, therapy, or other treatment. These services focus on evaluation, treatment, functional restoration, injury prevention, and safe return to work, recreational, and other activities.
NRH Regional Rehabs board-certified physicians and teams of physical and occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, psychologists, vocational rehabilitation counselors, and other clinicians have the credentials needed to meet the needs of patients with a wide range of neurologic, orthopedic, and musculoskeletal conditions.
Several Regional Rehab facilities are partnerships with Suburban Hospital, a leading acute-care hospital and designated trauma center in Montgomery County, Maryland. Others are partnerships with Calvert Memorial Hospital, Calvert Physical Sports Therapy and Fitness Center, and St. Mary’s Hospital in southern Maryland.
For more information, visit the National Rehabilitation Hospital.
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To view a transcript of our discussion at the DC Health Summit, click here.