By Ana Sanchez, M.D., Community Hospice of Northeast Florida When it’s hard to breathe, it’s difficult to think of anything else. Floridians who live with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, or COPD, may know that all too well, especially this time…
COPD: Helping Our Elders Breathe Easier
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FHPCA was honored to present the 2025 Awards of Excellence at the Annual Forum. These recognitions are granted to individuals, teams, or organizations that demonstrate outstanding service, innovation, leadership, and compassion in Florida’s hospices and palliative care. These awards help…
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3:00 PM - The Seven Pillars of Hospice Growth
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Most organizations want to grow, but not all organizations do what is required. This session will provide hospice, palliative care, and home care professionals with specific actionable methods to grow, increase the number of eligible patients served, and give the gift of hospice and home care. Join us to learn about the means and methods to install these growth pillars:
1. Creating an organizational culture of growth
2. Building a superior referral inquiry-to-admission process (intake) – the lifeblood for hospice growth
3. Engaging your medical director and providers to support growth and better involve community physicians
4. Installing a professional sales model (the days of muffin marketing are over)
5. Selling on value to 10 key referral sources
6. The power of differentiation
7. Using a quarterly growth plan to guide and direct growth
The HOPE assessment tool implementation timeline is effective October 1, 2025. CMS has released new versions of the HOPE Guidance Manual and all HOPE assessment tools. This session will address the changes to the HOPE tool to ensure your agency is prepared to accurately complete documentation as per the updated guidance. It will cover the HOPE tool’s impact on HQRP, updated guidance regarding HOPE Update Visits and completion requirements, and new and/or updated data items. It will also include the sequencing requirements for successful HOPE assessment submissions and acceptance to ensure the 90% compliance threshold is met.
An effective IDG fosters patient-centered care by involving a team of professionals who collaborate to meet the medical, psychosocial, emotional, and spiritual needs of hospice patients and their families. This collaborative approach ensures a comprehensive, holistic plan of care is developed and implemented.
The plan of care continues to be a key area of focus and challenge for agencies with surveys and financial audits. This presentation will explain how to conduct an effective IDG that impacts the individualized patient plan of care. It will review key IDG elements, including care planning, team communication, patient documentation, continuous assessment, coordination of care, and scope of services. The recommended best practices to conduct an effective IDG will be outlined to provide a structured, scheduled, and formatted IDG that meets the hospice requirements, including supporting patient eligibility. If your agency has struggled with POC survey or ADR challenges, and/or IDG team participation challenges, this will be an excellent presentation to attend.
The number of new hospice programs expands exponentially each year. This means there is an unprecedented need for new volunteer managers – yet many of these new hires do not receive the training necessary to apply existing skills to the very specific role of a hospice volunteer manager. This webinar will focus on introducing volunteer managers to the skills, information, and resources necessary to create a “knock your socks off” volunteer program.
The rate of provider live discharges has increased steadily from 16% in FY 2020 to 19% in FY 2024. Within the Medicare Hospice Benefit, there are five allowable live discharges. This program will review the requirements for each, define the process, explain what documentation is required, and include best practices.
Certain live discharges can be more challenging and require an agency to have policy in place specific to that live discharge. The presenter will address what information live discharges can provide as it relates to overall performance and Medicare eligibility. Both provider performance and eligibility can impact hospice quality and reimbursement, therefore understanding live discharges and best practices is critical.
For most people, “backstage language” and “bedside language” are very different. How we speak about situations in the office is not how we speak in people’s homes… or is it? “Your husband is terminally ill.” “Your wife is actively dying.” Are you certain the people you are speaking to know what you are talking about? What about saying to coworkers, “This is a difficult family”? What does this really mean and what should be done about it? Are you certain that you are not doing more harm than good by not being “intentional” about your word choice? This webinar will explore the many ways language can interfere with high-quality care – and how to mitigate it.
In a field where empathy meets expertise, confidence isn’t just helpful — it’s essential. This dynamic presentation will explore how confidence directly impacts sales success in home health and hospice. You'll discover the true definition of sales confidence, learn to identify the pitfalls of low or excessive confidence, and uncover the core habits that build a grounded, authentic presence. Whether you're navigating objections, connecting with families, or partnering with referral sources, your confidence sets the tone. Join us for this inspiring session and come ready to learn, grow, and step into the kind of confidence that sells with heart.
Budgets. Agencies need to have a budget, but does your agency actively use it as part of clinical operations? Have you prepared your clinical manager for utilizing key performance indicators? This webinar will identify the positive impact of involving clinical managers in budget discussions. It will address key performance indicators, specifically in home health and hospice, as a tool for monitoring the health of your organization. In addition, you’ll learn how communication flow between finance and clinical staff is an integral part of meeting budget projections.
The survey is finished and now it’s time to focus on the PoC. This presentation will take your agency through the next steps based on the preliminary survey findings, what is required after receiving your PoC, and where to begin with a post-survey corrective action plan and process. It will address the resources required to write and implement action items on the PoC and the critical steps an agency must take, including education, timeframes, potential auditing, establishing measurable goals, and ongoing QA.
In addition, it will cover ongoing quality improvement activities agencies should use to ensure sustained excellence in care. Learn how to prepare your agency for a resurvey if condition-level deficiencies require it. This program will help agencies turn their nerves into effective, doable, and focused corrective action items for a positive survey outcome.
