For Jennifer Brullo, managing a $350 million budget not only ensures VNS Health’s financial viability but also the certified home health agency’s intrinsic ability to continue keeping patients healthy and, hopefully, out of hospitals’ emergency departments.
Brullo is a “Setting the Standard” category honoree in the 2023 McKnight’s Pinnacle Awards program.
Since joining VNS Health through its affiliated Partners in Care in 2003, it’s been Brullo’s financial analysis, budgeting, forecasting and marketing work that has ensured that the agency can maintain its mission of offering personal care and companionship, skilled nursing and geriatric care management, as well as corporate immunization and wellness programs.
Brullo managed the agency’s home care division during two of the most challenging years of the COVID-19 pandemic, fighting on behalf of nurses early on to make sure they had access to necessary personal protective equipment and vaccinations in compliance with city and state mandates, all while they continued do their jobs visiting patients in their homes.
While serving as a senior leader, Brullo also has attended night classes, becoming a registered nurse to strengthen her understanding as she oversees operations that involve more than 10,000 employees.
“People live their lives at home — not in the hospital or a doctor’s office,” Brullo wrote in a May 2022 blog entry on the publishing platform Medium. “The home care nurse is positioned on the front lines of healthcare to educate, treat and empower in the home setting, and get patients back on the road to better health.”
After earning a master’s degree in nursing leadership and management from Walden University, Brullo earned a Doctor of Nursing Practice Executive Leadership Speciality from the Duke University School of Nursing. An American Nurses Credentialing Center board-certified nurse executive, she also received undergraduate and MBA degrees from St. John’s University.
The McKnight’s Pinnacle Awards program is jointly administered by McKnight’s Home Care, McKnight’s Senior Living and McKnight’s Long-Term Care News. Honorees were recognized March 7 at a dinner and awards ceremony in Chicago. The program’s Platinum sponsor was MatrixCare. Omnicare was a Silver sponsor, and additional sponsors included Pinnacle Quality Insight, HealthDirect and Sentrics.
Editor’s note: McKnight’s Home Care, McKnight’s Long-Term Care News and McKnight’s Senior Living are profiling the McKnight’s 2023 Pinnacle Awards honorees daily in April and May. For additional McKnight’s Pinnacle Awards content, visit this page.
