Philadelphia (March 2002)— Loretta M. McLaughlin, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Magee Rehabilitation Hospital, has been elected Chairperson of the Philadelphia Stroke Council. The Council promotes professional and public education and awareness of stroke, and aims to improve the quality of care for stroke victims. Ms. McLaughlin will serve a one-year term. 

Ms. McLaughlin has full clinical and operating responsibility for Magee Rehabilitation Hospital, which in 1998 and 1999, based on a national survey of physicians, was named as one of the nation’s best rehabilitation hospitals as published in U.S. News & World Report.  

A CPA, with a Master’s Degree in Business Administration, Ms. McLaughlin is also responsible for strategic planning and implementation of Magee’s evolving role as a regional resource for the Delaware Valley. Ms. McLaughlin is on the rehabilitation and legislative advisory boards of the National Stroke Association, and chairs the communications committee of the American Heart Association. 

Before joining Magee, she was Interim President of the Delaware Valley Healthcare Council, a not-for-profit association representing approximately 80 hospitals in Southeastern Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey. She was also the Council's Executive Vice President for nine years, serving as an advocate for Council members and their patients, and working with community groups, member hospitals and public health officials in community health initiatives.

During her tenure with the Council, she had a leadership role in founding the Consortium for Latino Health. The Consortium is a coalition of major health providers, insurers, Latino social service organizations, the Delaware Valley Healthcare Council and City agencies and schools. It seeks to improve the effectiveness of healthcare for the Latino community, including a major concern, stroke. Ms. McLaughlin has received an Award of Excellence from the Philadelphia Area Committee on Excellence on behalf of the Magee team for its work on the Consortium for Latino Health.

At Magee, Ms. McLaughlin instituted an Admission-Under-Appeal Program which addresses the issue of managed care denials of acute rehab for post-stroke patients. The program works collaboratively with insurers both to overturn denials and to change the way insurers evaluate the possibility of stroke survivors returning to productive life. Since the inception of the program, over 50 stroke patients who would have been denied access without this program have been admitted to Magee.

Stroke is a devastating disease that takes an enormous toll on Americans.  It is the third leading cause of death in the United States and a leading cause of adult disability. Each year approximately 700,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke. On average, someone suffers a stroke in the United States every 53 seconds. Every 3.3 minutes, someone dies of stroke.