Clifton Porter II, the long-time top advocacy executive for the American Health Care Association / National Center for Assisted Living, was named its next president and CEO Monday.
As the No. 2 exec for the nation’s largest nursing home association for the last 10 and a half years, Porter’s selection and quick affirmation came as no surprise to those familiar with the sector. His career includes stops as volunteer, nurse aide and small-facility administrator before a career of advocacy with national nursing home organizations.
A search committee was formed five months ago after current President and CEO Mark Parkinson announced his plan to retire in January 2025. The group made its recommendation of Porter Monday morning to the group’s Board of Governors, which quickly confirmed the choice.
“Clif brings a unique blend of front-line experience and lobbying acumen that makes him an ideal candidate to head AHCA/NCAL,” said Phil Scalo, Chairman of the AHCA Board of Governors. “We are delighted to see him take this next step, and we are confident AHCA/NCAL, as well as the profession’s future, will be bright under his leadership.”
The selection was privately announced to association members Monday afternoon via an e-blast from Parkinson, which was leaked in several places on social media later that day, but the association embargoed formal release of the news until early this morning.
“As a lifelong advocate for our nation’s seniors, I am honored to take the helm of AHCA/NCAL at this pivotal moment in its history,” Porter said in the AHCA statement. “Our recovery from the pandemic must continue if we are to deliver for our nation’s growing elderly population.”
A patient listener and speaker who is known to turn a colorful phrase while energetically emphasizing a point, Porter has been a popular figure on Capitol Hill and with AHCA members around the country.
“From a one-time CNA to the next CEO of the American Health Care Association, Clif Porter will be an exemplary, inspiring leader,” asserted Brendan Williams, the president and CEO of AHCA’s New Hampshire chapter, in an email to McKnight’s.
Easing into the role
Porter’s appointment will become effective in “Fall 2024,” according to a statement from the association. That likely means he will be introduced in his new role at the AHCA/NCAL convention and expo, which takes place Oct. 6-9 in Orlando, as his predecessor was.
He currently serves as Senior Vice President of Government Relations for AHCA/NCAL, leading the organization’s legislative agenda and advocacy efforts. His achievements include aiding passage of the IMPACT Act, repealing the physician sustainable growth rate, furthering skilled nursing facility value-based purchasing, and the permanent repeal of the Medicare Part B therapy caps.
He also was a leading voice in Washington in negotiations during the COVID-19 response to secure essential financial support and flexibility for the long-term care sector.
AHCA/NCAL represents more than 14,000 nursing homes and other long-term care facilities that provide care to approximately five million people each year. It is by far the sector’s best financed and most powerful advocacy organization, meaning Porter is poised to become the industry’s most prominent spokesman.
He will assume oversight of AHCA’s key strategic objectives, which include ensuring a robust workforce, reimbursement system, and regulatory environment for the profession, the group’s statement explained Monday morning. He also will manage the association’s trade shows and events and member education, as well as other strategic partnerships and endeavors. When he fully assumes the role in early 2025, he will be the first African American to fill the role in AHCA/NCAL’s 75-year history.
Sources inside the AHCA electorate told McKnight’s Long-Term Care News months ago that Porter had enough votes to sew up the appointment almost immediately after Parkinson’s announcement, but a national search still had to be conducted. Although Porter remained the clear front-runner, interviews turned up a surprisingly high number of strong candidates, multiple sources told McKnight’s Monday.
Classic growth arc
Porter’s 35-year long-term care career has earned him the credibility to represent providers of every size. A Washington, DC, native, he was first an administrator at a 34-bed nursing facility in Virginia. That led to increasingly larger assignments and eventually a move to HCR ManorCare (now known as ProMedica Senior Care), where he ascended the ranks from administrator to regional director of operations to vice president of government relations. He held that job for 10 years before joining Parkinson’s executive team at AHCA in December of 2013.
“I fully believe that Clif is the right person to lead long-term care into the future,” Parkinson wrote in an email to association members Monday.
“Clif is a true leader. He is smart, strategic, and takes the time to listen. Most important, Clif has spent years working in nursing homes. He knows what you face every day and every night,” Parkinson noted. “He understands the issues that you face and can bring together the right people and strategies to win those issues. Yes, he is one of the most influential lobbyists in D.C. On top of that he is one of us. I am confident he will lead the profession to future success and give you the ability to deliver high quality care.”
A rush of congratulations began to flow freely Monday as word of Porter’s hiring spread.
“The thing about Clif is that he’s the kind of advocate who can understand what it’s like to actually work in a skilled nursing facility,” said Brian Perry, who “filled Porter’s very big shoes” at HCR ManorCare for nine years and now is vice president of government affairs at Direct Supply. “Too often, those who disparage the amazing work by caregivers and providers do so from a perch of privilege that understands senior care only from the vantage point of a spreadsheet or a salacious headline. Not Clif — the lifelong passion that fuels him began as a volunteer in a nursing home before being an administrator and a regional manager, working for some of the best operators to ever do it.”
Honored executive
Porter was honored at the McKnight’s Pinnacle Awards in March as an Industry Ally division winner. He also was honored in McKnight’s “40 for 40” program four years ago, when McKnight’s celebrated the most prominent long-term leaders of the previous four decades in observation of the publishing veteran’s 40th year covering the sector. In addition, Porter has been honored by The Hill news publication as a Top 100 lobbyist in Washington.
He has pursued MBA studies at Florida State University and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Medicine in Healthcare Management. He and his wife, Deborah, recently established the Porter Legacy Scholarship to support diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts for students pursuing bachelor’s degrees in health services at VCU’s College of Health Professions.
