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As a CHAP site visitor I travel the United States to visit Home Health and Hospice agencies to confirm compliance with accreditation standards. The CHAP accreditation process is highly consultative in that intensive education is provided to each agency to enhance their opportunities to succeed.

I served as Regional Administrator providing direction and oversight to 8 agencies (4 home health and 4 hospice)

I was instrumental in developing strategic plans with branch administrators and clinical directors to identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities. I provided tools and assistance in implementing strategic interventions Developed indicators to monitor the progress of quality assessment and performance improvement.

I developed toolkit for the company to assist in transition of Medicare Conditions of Participation to include development of QAPI program.

I represented the hospice department in a software implementation project

Bon Secours was also pursuing accreditation from the Joint Commission and I enjoyed participating in developing the language for the Information Management portions of Policy and Procedure.

I performed process assessments of every component of hospice operations, translated current paper processes to electronic processes, including manuals and memos and training sessions.

I was hired to start-up a hospice program in Jacksonville, FL as a branch of then-named Hospice of North Central Florida (they have changed their name to Haven Hospice since my employment). Florida is a "Certificate of Need" state and even though Jacksonville's population could support many competitors, only one provider had been present in that location for many years. The result was a real opportunity to educate the community at large and the medical community to the Medicare Hospice Benefit. I implemented several educational campaigns for physicians, oncologists, facility staff, as well as new hospice staff as census grew.

I started at The Elizabeth Hospice as a Case Manager; I was promoted to Team Manager and managed a census of 60-75 patients. The Elizabeth Hospice decided to implement a new software application (Misys). I worked to beta-test the software while managing my team, then managed the implementation exclusively as point of care "field devices" were rolled out. It was at this point that my family needed to relocate and I was thankful that my new position at Hospice of North Central Florida included continuing my work with Misys software implementation.

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Vitas was my first exposure to hospice and I feel fortunate to have had the experience and excellent orientation provided by the company and the mentorship from my team mates. Having experienced hospice in a positive, organized, patient-outcome-driven model has influenced every aspect of my continued career in hospice.

Prior to 2000  I worked exclusively in home health; from the "bedside to the boardroom" since 1992. I served as Team Leader, Director of Nursing, and Administrator. I re-entered the home health industry in 2005 when Medical Services of America hired me as their hospice administrator. Their home health administrator went on maternity leave and never came back. Her decision changed my career dramatically!