Our team was proud to welcome eighteen French healthcare delegates and their translators on October 2, 2025 to Whittier Rehabilitation Hospital-Westborough to tour our facility and gain insights into healthcare and rehabilitation services at Whittier. Rebecca Roman, Whittier’s Administrator; and Ed Olbris, Whittier’s Director of Nursing Services, led the visitors through our long-term acute care, inpatient acute rehabilitation, and transitional care units to view a presentation, meet our care teams, and observe our equipment.
Our presentation to the French delegates covered all levels of care offered at our hospital and TCU, including admitting criteria and average length of stay for our patients, as well as standards and regulations set by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Administrator Rebecca Roman said, “We were honored to have been chosen by our French colleagues to visit Whittier on their immersive study tour of various U.S. facilities, and to share our care practices and innovations with their team members.”
The French delegates included healthcare executives and hospital directors from Dialog Health and the FHP SMR (Private Hospital Federation). Their morning at Whittier was part of a tour in Boston for an upcoming study mission titled “Reinventing Rehabilitation and Healthcare: American Innovations.” The primary objective of this study tour is to gain insights into healthcare and rehabilitation services in the American system.
This project was coordinated in close collaboration with FHP SMR (Private Hospital Federation), a French peak national association representing 460 private medical and in-patient rehabilitation facilities. Affiliated with the Private Hospital Federation, it defends the interests of these facilities, their 25,000 professionals and the 375,000 patients treated each year, with the aim of improving the quality of and access to healthcare.
FHP-SMR includes hundreds of private clinics and specialized rehabilitation centers, which deliver care to millions of patients each year across all regions of France. These facilities operate under both full hospitalization and outpatient care models and are known for their efficiency, innovation, and patient-centered approach. The federation ensures that the voice of private SMR providers is heard in decisions about resource allocation, public-private collaboration, care delivery models, and national health priorities.
Marie Gaultier, on behalf of Dialog Health and the FHP SMR delegation, emailed us to express their “sincere thanks for the warm welcome you gave us and the quality of the discussions during our visit at Whittier Rehabilitation Hospital yesterday. This interactive session was especially enriching for all participants, providing valuable insights. We greatly appreciated the opportunity to engage in thoughtful discussions during our final program visit at Whittier. It was also fascinating to explore the hospital’s various services and learn more about the impactful work being done there.”
Merci beaucoup to our French colleagues for visiting us – it was a pleasure to host your team!
Photos: At top, the French delegation with Rebecca Roman and Hunter, our therapy dog. Bottom, the delegation members tour Whittier Way, our unique indoor rehabilitation setting where patients practice everyday skills for community re-entry. Photos courtesy of Dialog Health.
