Editor’s Note: McKnight’s Long-Term Care News, McKnight’s Home Care and McKnight’s Senior Living are profiling the McKnight’s 2024 Pinnacle Awards honorees daily in April and May. For additional McKnight’s Pinnacle Awards content, visit this page.

The role of chief innovation officer suits Steven Littlehale as perfectly as his bow ties are affixed each time out. His education and training, clinical experience and leadership have led to measurably better care for residents in countless long-term care facilities. 

A registered nurse by education and training, he has gone on to create innovative programming, advocacy and relationship building. 

After graduating with a master’s degree in gerontological nursing from Georgetown University, Littlehale joined Hebrew Rehabilitation Center for Aged: Research and Training Institute in Boston, where he worked under contract with the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services on the development of MDS 2.0. Also with CMS, he has contributed to the development and validation of quality indicators, MDS data integrity audits, and most recently sat on the technical expert panel on SNF value-based pay measurement. 

He also had a prestigious appointment to the Partnership for Quality Measurement Pre-Rulemaking Measure Review Committee, which plays a pivotal role in the pre-rulemaking measure review process. 

Littlehale also has collaborated with the American Health Care Association and Brown University to bring two hospitalization metrics through the National Quality Forum process and into the public domain. He has worked with congressional leaders to improve publicly reported nursing home data, and consulted with compliance and legal defense associations. 

An accomplished public speaker, he frequently addresses nursing home clinical audiences, as well as real estate investment trusts, public and private lenders, and other external stakeholders. 

  • Earned his bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Vermont.
  • Has been a monthly expert columnist for McKnight’s Long-Term Care News since 2012.
  • Joined Zimmet Healthcare Services Group as chief innovation officer in June 2019. 

The McKnight’s Pinnacle Awards program is jointly administered by McKnight’s Long-Term Care News, McKnight’s Senior Living and McKnight’s Home Care. Honorees were recognized March 21 at a dinner and awards ceremony in Chicago. Omnicare was the Silver sponsor for the 2024 Pinnacle Awards program. Parker Health Group and Sentrics were event sponsors.