Former nursecomes fullcircle, with atwistBy Lorraine AgnewCourier-Post Staff

Michael Newell of Haddonfieldspeaks from more than 30 years ofexperience.

When people are diagnosed asdisabled, or are ill or under criticalcare, says Newell, a registerednurse and president of LifeSpanCare Management in Camden, theywant their life to be "normal."

That is what he hopes to give hisclients, and he says with pride,"That's a noble quest."

When it comes to personalhealth-care issues, adds Newell,59, "If you control your involve-ment and if you are involved, youare going to do better. And we givea family that control. It's not justabout making money. It's aboutyou being better."

His successful career has takenhim from the bedside as a nurse, tothe insurance arena as a case-management supervisor, to hospitalmanagement, and now back to thebedside.

But don't expect him to show upwith a blood pressure cuff or ther-mometer. In 2004, Newell createdLifeSpan Care Management, LLC,and today, Newell's bedside man-ner focuses on health-care manage-ment instead of actual health care.

History of caringBorn in Philadelphia and raised

in Merchantville, Newell graduatedfrom Camden Catholic HighSchool in 1966. Thinking hewanted to be a priest, he attendedSt. Charles College in Baltimore,but realized the priesthood wasn'tfor him.

In the 1970s, he took a job car-ing for patients at PhiladelphiaState Hospital in Philadelphia. Al-though the experience of workingwith the mentally ill made himconsider being a psychologist, hechose to go into nursing instead.

However, he says, "That mademe realize that if I was going to bea psychologist, I would have to get

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A great bedside manner

Michael Newell proudly displays a sign for his company, LifeSpan CareManagement, at his office in the Camden Waterfront Technology Centerin Camden. It has been Newell’s lifelong dream to own a company dedi-cated to helping people manage their health care options.a doctorate."

He returned to school, attend-ing La Salle University in Phila-delphia.

"I was a psychology major," hesays.

However, being the oldest of11 children, Newell realized thatthe financial burden of such anundertaking would rest solely onhis shoulders.

"I saw that if I got a nursingdegree, I could go to Philadel-phia Community

College and that was only twoyears. I could be making a livingat it. I planned to be a psychiatricnurse when I originally went intonursing school."

Also, he adds, "The nurses hadmore natural contact with thepatients. The patients would bedifferent with a psychologist thanthey would with the nurses andthey were able to assist that pa-tient from the personal point ofview."

He liked the way patients con-nected with him.

During that time, Newell was

something of an activist, says hislong time friend and current chiefoperating officer at LifeSpan,Diane Gager.

She says that while he workedfor Philadelphia State Hospital,he found the living conditions ofthe patients deplorable.

"He's a rebel," she says withadmiration. "He stood on thesteps of the hospital and handedout fliers protesting the condi-tions within."

Newell earned a bachelor'sdegree in humanities from LaSalle in 1977, then returned andearned a bachelor's degree innursing in 1989 and a master'sdegree in nursing in 1992.

He worked at several hospitalsin the Philadelphia and SouthJersey area, including EinsteinMedical Center, Temple Univer-sity, Jefferson Hospital and Coo-per Hospital.

The other sideHis career then took a turn. He

moved into case management forthe Fortis Corp., now CorVel in

Cherry Hill.Now working from the insur-

ance company's point of view,Newell says his belief was that,"The most appropriate care is themost cost-effective."

As an example, he says,"When you are on disability in-surance, it gets easy to sit athome."

He wanted to give people whatthey really wanted and, he says,"Most people want to get welland get back to work."

Being on disability insurance,he says, goes on a person's re-cord. "It affects their career. Itaffects the quality of their lives."

After CorVel, he worked forErnst & Young, LLP, also as acase-management supervisor.

While there he published twobooks.

The first, "Using Nursing CareManagement to Improve HealthOutcomes," was published in1996.

"This one was used for gradu-ate programs for nurse care man-agement," Newell said.

He co-authored another booktitled, "Reinventing Your Nurs-ing Career: A Handbook for Suc-cess in the Age of ManagedCare" in 1998 with a colleague,Mario Pinardo.

"Over the next years," saysNewell, "I did consulting andworked with agencies in the hos-pitals. I kept my hand in that. Iwas working part time as an ad-junct clinical instructor for dif-ferent nursing programs atGloucester County College, Jef-ferson Hospital and Temple."

In 2003, he recalls, "I was aclinical professor at Drexel Uni-versity. On the weekend, I was inthe ICU at Our Lady of Lourdesin Camden."

He maintained that scheduleuntil July 2005 when he wentfull-time, working only at Life-Span.

Although he actually startedhis business three years ago, hesays, "I was doing it part-time

ON THE WEB Contact Michael Newell, LifeSpanCare Management at (800)808-9844 Visit www.LifeSpanCM.com Email mnewell@LifeSpanCM.com

See NEWELL, Page 4

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Growing a businessNewell, who is married to Nadia, 50,

was managing his business from hishome. Although he was close to his threechildren -- Michael, 18, Domenica, 16,and Catherine, 13 -- he says he needed tomove.

"If you are really going to grow a busi-ness, you need to move out of your house.You need to separate your personal lifefrom your business life."

He currently rents office space at TheWaterfront Technology Center at Camdenon Federal Street.

The center is sponsored through theRutgers Business Incubator, which is partof the New Jersey Economic Develop-ment Council.

Newell says today he does the samething he did when he managed cases forthe insurance company; however, "Now,the client is the family. It's really to getthe patient through the system and helpthe family understand what's going on soeverybody makes the right decision. Theyhave someone to go to if they are havinga problem."

Armed with a fully loaded PDA, hesays he has the needed information at hisfingertips. Whether he accompanies aclient to a hospital, a doctor's office or anursing home, he has the knowledge andexperience and is prepared to assist hisclients with anything that comes up.

"We don't know everything," he admits,"but we do know what questions to ask.We know what answers aren't makingsense. Also, we know where to find theanswers."

Says Gager, "He is very modest. He isincredibly smart and very kind. I can't sayenough good things about Mike Newell."

They share a deep friendship betweenher family and his, she says, "He has ad-vised me and my loved ones more thanonce."The GuardianKey

One LifeSpan feature is the GuardianKey, Gager says.

"We put the present medical record ona USB flash drive. All of the informationis there. If you went into the hospital, youwould have everything you need to getthe care started."

While anyone could gather their owninformation and place it on a flash drive,and Newell recommends that everyoneshould do this, his company has created aformat that makes the information easy toaccess and read on any personal com-puter.

By doing that, he says, "If you have aproblem and run into a wall, we can bethere for you because we already knowyou."

Aside from Gager, he also contractswith six registered nurses.

"Some of them I have known becausethey did case management over theyears," he says.

Newell also holds seminars to teachpeople how to manage their own health-care needs.

"Right now, we are planning a fallseminar for the Parish Nurses Associationfor the Diocese of Camden," he says.

And, as spiritual guides, they are oftenasked for a deeper understanding of theillness. Questions like, "Why did this hap-pen to me,' or "m I being punished,' areoften asked.

"This is very important. These,"stresses Newell, "are the wrong ques-tions."

And, after a lifetime of helping othersin time of need, he says people need toask, "What am I going to do about it?

"That," he adds, "is the right question."

MICHAEL NEWELL Born: Philadelphia, 1948

Family: Wife, Nadia; three children, Michael, 18,Domenica, 16 and Catherine, 13

Residence: Haddonfield

Education: Camden Catholic High School, 1966; St.Charles College, 1968; Philadelphia Community College, asso-ciate's degree in nursing 1974; LaSalle University, bachelor'sdegree in humanities 1977, bachelor's degree in nursing,1989, and master of science in nursing administration 1992.Nursing experience: Staff RN Med-Surgical at Medical Collegeof Pennsylvania; Staff RN Institute of Pennsylvania Hospital,Adolescent Treatment Center (psychology); Staff RN, AlbertEinstein Medical Center, Northern Division, Medical CCU andInfectious Disease; Staff RN, Medical and Surgical CCU, Tho-mas Jefferson University Hospital; Assistant Head Nurse, Al-bert Einstein Medical Center-Daroff Division; Critical CareSupervisor, Pennsylvania Hospital; Staff nurse for temporaryagencies, including Medstaff, Superior Care and Kimberly;Contract RN with Skilled Nursing Inc. and Criticare.; Staff RN,Temple University Hospital in Neurosurgical Intensive CareUnit and Emergency Room; Self-employed as contract staffnurse working in critical care units through Nurseworks (nowIntellistaff), Bala Cynwyd, Pa., and Criticare, Holmes, Pa. Hos-pitals placed in included, West Jersey (all four sites), Cooper-UMDNJ, Crozer-Chester, Presbyterian, Germantown, ChestnutHill, Roxborough, Taylor, Episcopal, Thomas Jefferson, andWills Eye Neurosensory Center.

Care management experience: Supervisor ofCase Management for the Fortis Corp. (now CorVel), CherryHill; Manager, Health Care Consulting Group, Ernst & YoungLLP, Iselin, NJ.; Principal and case manager, Managed CareConsultants; President LifeSpan Care Management, LLC, Cam-den.Teaching experience: Adjunct Nursing Clinical Instructor;Thomas Jefferson University; Philadelphia Community Col-lege; Temple University; Gloucester County College; Alle-gheny University School of Nursing; Mercer County Commu-nity College; Drexel University Nursing Program.

Certifications: Certified as proficient in critical careby the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (nowexpired); Certified as Case Manager by the Certification ofInsurance Rehabilitation Specialist Commission.

Chris LaChall/Courier-PostMichael Newell, President of LifeSpan Care Management,and Diane Gager, Chief Operating Officer of LifeSpan CareManagement, look over their website from their officenear the Camden waterfront.

Newell: Nurse finds a way back

Michael Newell usesthese brochures to publicize his com-pany, LifeSpan Care Management, whichhas offices in Camden and which helpspeople manage their health care options.