LifeCircles PACE Medical Director Named 2026 Medical Director of the Year
Iris Boettcher, MD, CMD was honored recently at The Foundation for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine (PALTmed)’s annual conference in Anaheim, California as the Foundation’s 2026 Medical Director of the Year award recipient. The Medical Director of the Year Award recognizes those individuals whose vision, passion, leadership, knowledge, and commitment succeed in taking patient care to exceptional levels of quality, excellence, and innovation.
Dr. Boettcher serves as the medical director for several Brio Living Services programs, including LifeCircles PACE (Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly) Centers in Holland and Muskegon, Michigan; Porter Hills Village Health Center in Grand Rapids; and Avenues by Brio Living Services. She also serves as medical director for organizations such as Corewell Health West Rehab and Nursing Centers. In addition, she is a clinical associate professor at Michigan State University’s Department of Medicine, College of Human Medicine. Dr. Boettcher has served as past president of PALTmed – Michigan.
“I am humbled to receive this recognition from the Foundation for PALTC Medicine,” said Dr. Boettcher. “I joined AMDA as a fellow in geriatric medicine in 1989 and have gained so much from this organization we now call PALTmed. It is an incredible honor to be named Medical Director of the Year. It is, in my opinion, one of the highest awards to be given to a physician in long-term care medicine.”
Brio Living Services’ Chief of Home and Community Based Services, Luke Reynolds, said, “I’ve been incredibly fortunate to learn from Dr. Iris Boettcher—as a mentor, leader, and friend. She has a rare ability to listen deeply, lead with integrity, and speak with intention. When I was new to aging services, she took the time to teach me the importance of understanding what matters most to people and shaping care around their goals, not ours. Her advocacy for vulnerable older adults and her quiet, steady leadership have shaped the way I do this work, and I’m profoundly grateful for her wisdom and influence.”
Heidi Gras, Executive Director at LifeCircles PACE, added, “Iris isn't usually one for the spotlight—she’s much more comfortable having a heart-to-heart with a family in crisis or rolling up her sleeves in her garden. But having her named the national Medical Director of the Year by PALTmed is a moment our whole team wants to celebrate. At LifeCircles, we’ve always said that our work is about walking alongside people during some of their most complicated chapters. It’s about more than just managing a list of diagnoses; it’s about making sure people of any age can stay in the home they love with a little extra support, on their own terms, even when their health gets complex. Since LifeCircles opened its doors in 2009, Iris has been a steadfast heartbeat in our mission.”
Dr. Boettcher also serves on the UMRC-Porter Hills Foundation Board of Directors, the fundraising arm for Brio Living Services. Foundation President & CEO, Kelli Smith, CFRE, said, “We are honored to have Dr. Boettcher’s expertise in geriatric care as well as her thoughtful leadership as a member of the Foundation board. She has a unique understanding of the individuals and families we serve and ensures that their priorities are heard.”
“Whether at LifeCircles PACE or within the broader Brio Living Services family, we want every older adult to know their voice is the one that matters most,” said Dr. Boettcher. “Receiving this recognition is an honor, but the real reward is the work we do every day at LifeCircles PACE. The PACE model gives us the rarest commodity in modern medicine: time. Time outside of the typical insurance driven models of care, to practice our craft and deeply listen to and learn from the people we care for. It allows us to move past a diagnosis and support our PACE members in honoring what matters most in their lives. The long-term relationships within PACE allow health professionals to customize medical care around the most sacred parts of our patient's lives, versus asking patients to ‘comply’ with modern medicine's approach and try to fit their values around that. As the Medical Director since LifeCircles’ founding in 2009, it has been a pleasure to support older adults and the health professionals who are drawn to PACE’s holistic and back-to-basics approach to medicine.”
Dr. Boettcher was also honored for her outstanding achievements at a reception at Corewell Health Place on April 22, 2026.
For more information about LifeCircles PACE, Brio Living Services, and its other PACE sites, please visit MyBrio.org.
This blog is sponsored by Chelsea State Bank, a Live Life with Brio Bronze Sponsor! Your thoughtful gift brings joy to the older adults we serve and our team members.
