President, Ousley & Associates

Ms. Ousley is the President of Ousley & Associates, which assists health care providers in strategic planning, management problem solving, regulatory and compliance issues, operational analysis and implementation of quality management programs.

Prior to forming Ousley & Associates in 2006, Ms. Ousley was the Executive Vice President of SunBridge Healthcare Corporation. SunBridge operates more than 105 skilled nursing, long-term care facilities and assisted living residences throughout the United States. Ms. Ousley has held multiple leadership positions in dynamic health care corporations, which have provided her with an extensive background in, and in-depth knowledge of all facets of the long-term-care profession. In addition to Ms. Ousley’s professional leadership, she is an active member of the long-term care profession.

Ms. Ousley is a Past Chair of the American Health Care Association, the largest trade organization representing long-term care. Since 1988, she has acted as an Advisory Provider Representative to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), formerly known as the Health Care Financing Administration, on the policy and regulatory development of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987, survey, certification, enforcement and Medicare. She served on the Technical Expert Panel on the implementation and refinements of Medicare’s Prospective Payment System for skilled nursing facilities and on the CMS & Quality Improvement Organization’s Nursing Facility Technical Expert Panel on the development and implementation of a quality improvement model for long-term care.

Ms. Ousley has served on the CMS Committee on the Adequacy of Nurse Staffing in Long Term Care. She chaired the advisory committee for the Wertlieb Educational Institute for Long Term Care Management for The George Washington University, and she serves on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation National Steering Committee focusing on the future of the paraprofessional long-term care workforce. She is the long-term care representative on the Joint Commission Board of Commissioners.

Over the past 20 years, Ms. Ousley has been appointed to and made recommendations for the U.S. General Accounting Office Health Policy Advisory Committee, the Joint Commission and the National Commission on Nursing. She has frequently provided Congressional testimony regarding health care policy.

Ms. Ousley received her degree from Eastern Kentucky University. In 1990, she was recognized by the University College of Nursing as the outstanding alumna, in recognition of her significant contributions to the field of nursing at the local, state, and national levels.