Meet The CALTCM Board of Directors:  
Karl Steinberg, MD, CMD
CALTCM BOD, Secretary, & Co-Chair PPSC

Dr. Karl Steinberg is an experienced clinician with over 20 years in practice in San Diego County.  He is a 

geriatrician and board-certified family physician with a subspecialty certification in hospice and palliative 

medicine.  He serves as chief medical officer for Shea Family Health, an El Cajon-based nursing home 

and post-acute care chain, medical director of two other skilled nursing facilities, Kindred Village Square 

and Life Care Center of Vista, and medical director of Hospice by the Sea in Solana Beach.  Dr. Steinberg 

has been a nursing home medical director and hospice medical director since 1995 and is probably best 

known for taking his dogs on rounds with him almost every day. He is the editor-in-chief of Caring for the 

Ages, and on AMDA's BOD and vice chair of their Public Policy Committee, and chair-elect of the Coalition 

for Compassionate Care of CA.  Dr. Steinberg was also CALTCM President from 2007-2009.

CALTCM: What is your training background, practice setting and how many years have you been in practice?

Dr. Steinberg: Bachelor’s in biochemistry from Harvard, med school at Ohio State, family medicine residency at 
UCSD, finished in 1990.  Started a SNF Team in my medical group in the early ‘90s and did half office, half SNF 
for several years, then full-time SNF for about 10 years.  In 2014 started as CMO for Shea Family Health, an El 
Cajon-based small nursing home chain and post-acute care provider.  Also a nursing home and hospice medical 
director since 1995, and I do a lot of boards, committees, consulting, and medicolegal work (expert testimony, etc.)

CALTCM:  What are you passionate about in long term care?  How are you pursuing your passion?

Dr. Steinberg:  Other than just being very fond of elderly people in general, I am passionate about 
helping people understand their options for treatment, and helping them get the care they want to 
get—and not get the care they don’t want to get.  A lot of this centers around advance care planning 
and palliative care.  I am pursuing this by being active in the Compassionate Care Coalition of 
California and other organizations dedicated to education, promotion and engagement around 
advance care planning, chronic disease management, and palliative care before the end of life 
as well as through the trajectory of illness.

CALTCM:  What advice would you give to a new graduate contemplating a career in long term care?

Dr. Steinberg:  Do it.  We need you!  It’s not the most glorious or sexy of specialties, but it is very 
rewarding.  And it is very much appreciated by those we serve, and the other professionals we work with. 

CALTCM:  What additional training do you wish you had that may help with your current practice?

Dr. Steinberg:  Maybe more in the line of business and economics.

CALTCM:  How has CALTCM impacted your practice?

Dr. Steinberg:  It’s been my home base for professional relationships and education for over 20 years, 
and most importantly, it is where I feel most comfortable with like-minded professionals who care about 
the same things I do, and treasure our special work with some of the most vulnerable of patients in the 
health care spectrum.