45th Annual Conference Virtual
“Serious Illness Care Transformation: Quality, Partnerships & Equity”
Monday, August 30, 2021 & Tuesday, August 31, 2021
MONDAY, AUGUST 30TH
9:00 am - 12:00 pm PRECONFERENCE
*Ethical Dilemmas That Lead to Moral Distress for Care Providers of the Seriously Ill | Risa Hanau, MSW, LCSW | Clinical and Community Educator, Authoracare Collective
When team members provide care to the seriously ill, including palliative and hospice patients, it is inevitable that there will be Ethical Dilemmas experienced along the way. While Ethical Dilemmas are to be expected, it is the Moral Distress that often is experienced by the team member that is most difficult. This Ethics Pre-Conference session will include common themes that lead to Ethical Dilemmas and Moral Distress including, End-of-Life Care Choices, Disparity in Care, COVID related impact on care and more. Ethical Principles will be used to frame the discussion and case studies will be included to explore the current issues being faced by team members. Resources and best practice tools will be shared throughout the session.
Approved for 3 Social work hours
12:30 PM | Opening Session | Improving Palliative Care Access while Building Resilience into the Health Care System and its Workforce | Peggy Mcguire | President, Cambia Health Foundation
Every person with a serious illness should have access to high quality palliative care – alongside curative care — in whatever setting is right for them, whether that’s in the hospital, in the home or in the community. However, significant barriers and disparities often exist that limit this access. Join Peggy Maguire, President, Cambia Health Foundation, for an engaging discussion with several palliative care leaders who will share their perspectives about the opportunities and challenges for improving access to and providing palliative care in underserved communities; the innovative strategies they are deploying to reduce racial inequities and health disparities and how to build resilience into the health care system so that providers no matter where they serve feel connected and supported.
Breakout #1
Leadership Track | Leading Sustaining Innovations and Disruptive Innovations | Chris Comeaux, CPA, MLAS | President/CEO, Teleios Collaborative Network
Given all the up-and-coming challenges in Serious Illness care this will be a stimulating presentation regarding what those challenges are and a framework leaders can apply to navigate where to focus on sustaining innovations and where to focus on disruptive innovations and how to do both.
Regulatory Track | Title TBA | Jennifer Kennedy, EdD, MA, BSN, RN, CHC | Senior Director of Quality & Regulatory | National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization
Session Description TBA
Palliative Care Track | Impact of a Palliative Care Program in a Community Hospital | Vicki McLawhorn, DNP-BC, NP and Sherrill Beaman, RHIA, CPHQ, MPH, Quality Director | Vidant Edgecombe Hospital
This session will discuss how Palliative Care impact financials including lowering mortality, 30-Day readmissions and how involvement increases patient/family prognostic awareness which in turn can impact patient outcomes in vulnerable populations We will also describe the process for developing buy-in from community and hospital leadership.
Physician Track | How to Reduce Hospice Patient ER Visits that Lead to Revocations | Tammie Quest, MD, | Professor, Emory University School of Medicine
This session will focus on factors that contribute to emergency department visits and revocations. Strategies will be identified to avoid emergency department visits, facilitate care in an emergency department when a visit does occur and how to work with patients, families and emergency department staff in a proactive fashion to reduce hospice revocation and discharges.
Plenary Session | Racism and Palliative Care: We Are Not Immune | Tammie Quest, MD | Professor, Emory University School of Medicine
This session will focus on definitions of race, systemic racism and white privilege and explore how race and the experience of racisms effects staff, patient and family experience in hospice and palliative care. This session will discuss strategies to incorporate in the hospice and palliative care team setting.
5:30 pm – 6:30 pm Serious Illness Coalition Networking Reception
TUESDAY, AUGUST 31ST
Opening Keynote | Lessons Learned and the Future Hospice Landscape | Judi Lund-Person, BA, MPH, CHC | Vice President, Regulatory and Compliance | National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization
BREAKOUT #2
Leadership Track | Viewing the Pandemic Response through Ethics and Equity Lens: What Have We Learned for Going Forward | Rick Foster, MD
Dr. Foster will focus on the pandemic response and recovery in SC and the US from an ethics and equity perspective, and how what we have learned during this unprecedented public health emergency can and should shape key innovations and improvements in the healthcare delivery and financing system going forward.
Quality & IDT Service Delivery | Depression: Psychosocial and Medical Interventions | Anthony Berard, PharmD, MBA | Enclara Pharmacia
This session will review how depression may be overlooked, take an in depth look at the domains associated with illness and bereavement where depression is an issue and provide best practices in psychosocial interventions and pharmacotherapy.
Regulatory Track | QAPI Programming That Works |Sylvia Singleton, RN, CHC, | Corporate Compliance Officer, Caris Healthcare
During this presentation, we will explore how to make QAPI work for you, improve quality scores and stay on top of data points. We will dive into using your data to develop your plan, track your outcomes, and make decisions next steps.
Palliative Care Track | Making the Case for Palliative Care in Oncology | Elizabeth Burpee, MD, | Hospice and Palliative Medicine Research and Clinical, Four Seasons
This session will focus on data and guidelines, helping with difficult symptom management, difficult family situations, and high psychosocial stressors.
Physician Track | A Pathway to Yes | Mark Fox, MD, | National Medical Director, Kindred at Home
This session will focus on assuring attendees become familiar with the terminal prognosis, understand the education needed for patients requesting continued palliative treatments, learn how opportunities can allow admissions for patients with expensive therapies and review several care issues which provides for opportunities to say ‘YES’.
Breakout #3
Leadership Track | Part 1 | Building an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Culture from The Inside Out -Elder Angela Overton | Senior Advisor, Interfaith Workgroup, Coalition to Transform Advanced Care (C-TAC); & Marisette Hasan, BSN, RN | President/CEO, The Carolinas Center
This presentation will share why diversity, equity and inclusion is a must for any sustainable entity, organization, and program. Presenters will lead an interactive discussion around best practices and lessons learned.
Quality & IDT Service Delivery| Accountability: The Tie That Binds | Judy Connelly, MSN, | Senior Manager, Simione
This presentation will identify the meaning of accountability as it relates to hospice team practice, excellent outcomes, and financial stability. Facilitate a culture of accountability to create future success for leadership, the organization, staff, referral sources and patients/families and identify barriers to creating a culture of accountability.
Regulatory Track | A Solid Foundation | Alicia Sterritt, MSW | Quality/Compliance Officer, Hospice of the Carolina Foothills
Does your program have a solid foundation? Do you know, FOR SURE, that your Election form and Certifications of Terminal Illness (CTI) workflow pass the test? Have the right staff been taught the right information to ensure your program is getting it right? They must! There is no room for error with these 2 crucial elements which are the foundation of being paid for Hospice services. The election is the patient’s choice for Hospice; the certification is proof of terminality. Election form dates can be tricky! A verbal order is not a verbal certification! This session will provide education and tools to ensure your team can pass the test!
Palliative Care Track | New 2021 Billing Options to Enhance Palliative Care Revenue | John Morris, MD, | CMO of Serious Illness, Telios
This presentation will discuss new 2021 Medicare coding rules, intensity vs time-based coding and virtual, Telehealth and care management coding.
Physician Track | Palliative Sedation at End-of-Life | Ellen, Fulp, PharmD, MSPC, BCGP, | Director of Pharmacy Education, AvaCare, Inc.
This session will provide an overview of palliative sedation and how to appropriately utilize this therapy for terminally ill patients with refractory physical symptoms. Position statements and case studies will be reviewed. This session will also review patient assessment, prognostication, and the ethical concerns associated with palliative sedation. Lastly, medication classes commonly used in palliative sedation therapy will be discussed.
45th Annual Award Recognition
Breakout #4
Leadership Track | Part 2 | Building an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Culture from The Inside Out -Elder Angela Overton, Senior Advisor, Interfaith Workgroup, Coalition to Transform Advanced Care (C-TAC); & Marisette Hasan, BSN, RN | President/CEO, The Carolinas Center
This presentation will share why diversity, equity and inclusion is a must for any sustainable entity, organization, and program. Presenters will lead an interactive discussion around best practices and lessons learned.
Quality & IDT Service Delivery| Goal-Concordant Care: The intersection between drugs and disease for those with serious illness | Wayne H. Grant, PharmD, MBA | Delta Care RX
This presentation will explore how clinicians, administrators, and patients apply the concepts of goal concordant care, discuss the path of drug change, while understanding the complexity and controversies around therapies. Identify the obstacles of goal-concordant care while also realizing the positive impact of listening to our patients wishes.
Regulatory Track | AUDIT: An Unchecked Document Is Trouble!| Annette Kiser, RN, MSN, NE-BC, CHC | Chief Compliance Officer, Teleios Collaborative Network
Are your clinical team members checking their documentation carefully? Are visit notes checking all the boxes for eligibility documentation? Is your medical records team checking for all the technical elements of a complete record? If you do not have confidence that all these checks are taking place in your organization, it could spell trouble! Unchecked documents can lead to significant denials during medical review audits. We’ll review the most recent areas of audit focus and the reasons claims are being denied. We will discuss how to stop trouble in its tracks with ongoing education, quality documentation practices, and internal auditing. By focusing on checks in documentation we can ensure a different kind of checks keep coming to the bank!
*Palliative Care Track | Community Based Serious Illness Programs: Maximizing the Role of the Registered Nurse and Social Worker to Meet Your Mission | Kristie Szarpa, MSN, ANP-BC, ACHPN | Senior Director of Practice Management & Serious Illness Services, Mountain Valley Hospice & Palliative Care and Christine Lau, RN, LCSW, APHSW-C | VP of Serious Illness Operations and Care Management, Teleios Collaborative Network
This presentation will provide an overview of quality components of serious illness care in the outpatient setting, and the need for interdisciplinary practice. Discuss the impact of Social Determinants of Health on patient outcomes. How a value-based payment model impacts how services are delivered, including opportunities for expanded use of RN and SW. The presenters will also provide an overview of Nurse and Social Worker roles and how Mountain Valley has created a team to meet the needs of its patients.
*Approved for 1 social work hour
Physician Track | Narrative Writing Club for Hospice Physicians | Aye P. Aung, MD, HMDC, FAAHPM | Vice President, Executive Medical Director HSP, Amedisys Inc.
This presentation will describe how to gather revenant information from RN: disease specific decline and general decline and discuss how to write Strong comprehensive narrative which is billable to MAC (Medicare Administrative contractor): including narrative tip document covering 7 important topic of strong, comprehensive, narrative CTI.
Closing Session | The Palliative Care Landscape | Lori Bishop, MHA, BSN, RN, CHPN | Vice President of Palliative and Advanced Care, National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO)
Speakers
Risa Hanau, MSW, LCSW | Authoracare Collective
Risa has worked with Authoracare Collective since 2004 and has served in many roles, currently she is the Clinical and Community Educator. She has worked in the hospice field since 1993 and started her career as a hospital social worker at Moses Cone Hospital. Risa is a seasoned presenter and teacher in the area of end-of-life and ethics. She is a member of the Cone Health Ethics Committee. By training, Risa is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and holds a Master of Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania.
Peggy Mcguire | Cambia Foundation
As president of Cambia Health Foundation, Peggy works with a wide range of stakeholders to drive health care transformation through purposeful investments in whole person care models that reduce disparities and result in better experiences for people and families. Sojourns®, the Foundation’s signature program, promotes palliative care innovation and leadership development. Through Healthy People, Healthy Communities, the Foundation works to address social determinants of health, eliminate systemic barriers and empower all people to achieve optimum health.
Peggy is passionate about helping people with serious illness and their caregivers lives well. In 2019, she founded the Oregon Coalition for Living Well with Serious Illness. She sits on the leadership council for the Rosalyn Carter Institute for Caregivers and co-chairs the Roundtable on Quality of Care for People with Serious Illness at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM), as well as the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association’s Palliative Care Learning Collaborative. Peggy also serves on the board of directors of Grantmakers In Aging. In 2016, the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine recognized the Cambia Health Foundation with its highest honor, a Presidential Citation.
Chris Comeaux, CPA, MLAS | President/CEO, Teleios Collaborative Network
Chris Comeaux (KO-mo) is an award-winning expert and lifelong student of leadership and the performance required to truly be a leader. He has spent his life and career researching, learning, coaching, and implementing the pushes and pulls necessary to create high performance leaders and high performance organizations.
Chris is currently the President/CEO of Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN) which is a collaboration founded by Four Seasons Compassion for Life, Carolina Caring, Caldwell Hospice & Palliative Care, and Mountain Valley Hospice & Palliative Care and is 11 members strong over 5 states. The goal of the collaboration is to harness the best of each hospice and enable the network to better care in each community for the patients and families being served as well as introduce innovations across the membership network and work with payors for new innovative solutions for those dealing with serious and advanced illness.
Over the years, Chris has become nationally known as a leader in our country’s hospice and palliative care industry, where he has spent a large portion of his career as President/CEO of Four Seasons in western North Carolina, a two time American Hospital Association Circle of Life Award Winner. In 2005, the Carolinas Center for Hospice and End of Life Care honored him with the Peter Keese Leadership Award.
In 2006, Chris left Four Seasons for two years to build an alliance between the prestigious national healthcare consulting firm, the Studer Group, and Covenant Hospice in Pensacola. The vision was to transform, develop, and grow leaders throughout the hospice and palliative care world. Chris grew this venture from its infancy to an established coaching firm partnering with post-acute healthcare organizations from New York to California. He returned to Four Seasons in 2008 to apply what he learned in the trenches on leadership to an organization he knew and loved.
In 2020, Chris helped co-found Teleios Consulting Group (TCG), a coaching and consulting company taking the leadership principles used in TCN as well as the “Leadership System” Chris has researched and developed to clients all over the US. Chris says, “If the principles and tools we teach work in hospice and palliative care, they would work in any business.”
Chris’s hospice career began in 1997 at Covenant Hospice in Pensacola, Florida. Earlier in his career, he worked with KPMG Peat Marwick, a “Big Four” CPA consulting firm, and with Cooper Industries, a Fortune 100 Company, in its Executive Development Program.
Chris has a Masters in Leadership from the Thayer Institute for Performance Virtuosity.
Chris is married to Deshia and they are the proud parents of 5 children (3 boys and 2 girls) ranging in age from 21 to 11 years. Chris enjoys spending time outdoors with his family, reading, learning, and working on their 7- acre farm in the mountains of Western North Carolina.
Jennifer Kennedy, EdD, MA, BSN, RN, CHC | National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization
Dr. Jennifer Kennedy is the Senior Director of Quality & Regulatory for the National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization and has been with the organization since 2006. She has more than 30 years of experience as a leader and nurse in diverse healthcare settings and has worked in hospice and palliative care for the last 18+ years. She has a bachelor’s degree in nursing, a dual master’s degree in health education and case management, and a doctoral degree in health care education and policy and is a certified healthcare compliance professional. Jennifer is the lead for the NHPCO hospice quality program and interacts with CMS and their contractors related to hospice regulatory and quality issues. She serves on the National Quality Forum’s MAP Post-Acute Care/Long-Term Care Workgroup, the 2020 National Quality Partners™ (NQP™) Leadership Consortium, and the Joint Commission’s Home Care Accreditation Advisory Council. She also a member of the ANA’s national palliative nursing task group and is a U.S. representative for the UK’s St. Christopher’s Hospice Celebrating Palliative Care Nursing in 2020 Project. Jennifer is serves as faculty at national and state conferences, writes articles for trade journals, contributes to health care publisher materials, develops education and resources for hospice and palliative care providers. , and currently serves on the Jennifer also teaches Graduate Health Science courses at the University of Indianapolis.
Vicki McLawhorn, DNP-BC, NP | Vidant Edgecombe Hospital
Sherrill Beaman, RHIA, CPHQ, MPH | Quality Director, Vidant Edgecombe Hospital
Tammie Quest, MD, | Professor, Emory University School of Medicine
Dr. Tammie E. Quest is the Montgomery Chair in Palliative Medicine and Professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine and the Department of Emergency Medicine. She is the Chief of Palliative Medicine for the Division of Palliative Medicine in the Department of Family Medicine. She is the Past President of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine and Director of the Emory Palliative Care Center for Emory’s Woodruff Health Sciences Center (WHSC). She is the Associate Editor for the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management on Race. Her active education and research interests include racial disparities, emergency medicine and palliative care, advance care planning and care for serious illness in older adults. She is the recipient of multiple NIH grants and foundation funding to support innovations in palliative care She is board certified in Emergency Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Medicine.
Judi Lund-Person, BA, MPH, CHC | Vice President, Regulatory and Compliance, National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization
Judi serves as a key contact with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, interfacing with hospice payment policy, Part D, survey and certification, contractor management, and program integrity functions, among others. She also represents hospice and palliative care with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and other federal agencies and many national organizations. Recent issues include advocating for changes to the election statement and addendum forms and implementation, advocating for a new process for Part D notification of hospice election, addressing confusion about attending physicians, and ongoing work with the Medicare Administrative Contractors on hospice payment policy issues.
She works daily with hospice providers and state hospice organizations on the ever-increasing array of regulatory and compliance issues and translates complex regulatory language into actionable “plain English” for hospice providers. She works with her team at NHPCO to develop regulatory and compliance tools for hospice providers each year, including hospice payment rates and wage index values and compliance guides to assist providers in achieving compliance with various federal rules and regulations.
Judi graduated with honors from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a degree in Sociology and has a Masters in Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She holds a Certification in Healthcare Compliance.
Rick Foster, MD |
Anthony Berard, PharmD, MBA | Enclara Pharmacia
Anthony is a Clinical Account Manager with Enclara Pharmacia and has over 18 years of experience in the hospice field. He is a graduate of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy (PharmD, 2001) and Norwich University (MBA, 2010). After graduation in 2001, Anthony completed a 1 year post graduate residency in managed care pharmacy at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.
Sylvia Singleton, RN, CHC, | Corporate Compliance Officer, Caris Healthcare
Sylvia L. Singleton has been a Registered Nurse for over 25 years. She spent 15 years in Medicare working for a Medicare Contractor. This experience included policy development, medical review and data analytics. There were also activities associated with communicating directly with the Federal Government - CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services).
Specific experience includes serving as a HCPCS Coordinator, reviewing medical equipment and assigning HCPCS codes for durable medical equipment (DME) for the Medicare Program. Performing as a Medical Affairs Coordinator developing Local Coverage Determinations (LCDs) used in 16 states, then moving on to a position as Medical Review Manager. During this time she initiated contractor medical review of Medicare claims for Part A and B along with Home Health and Hospice.
For the last seven years, Sylvia has utilized that knowledge and leadership at Caris Healthcare, serving as the Corporate Compliance Officer. Sylvia is certified in healthcare compliance through HCCA, and is an active member of The Carolinas Center for the End of Life Care, currently serving as an Executive Board Member and serving on the NHPCO Regulatory committee, including serving as faculty for the NHPCO Hospice Compliance Certificate Program to improve and inform on hospice regulations and patient care.
Elizabeth Burpee, MD, | Hospice and Palliative Medicine Research and Clinical, Four Seasons
Mark Fox, MD, | National Medical Director, Kindred at Home
Currently, he is the National Medical Director for Kindred at Hospice. He previously served as the Hospice Medical Director of McLeod Hospice and Palliative Care in Florence, South Carolina; and Hospice Medical Director of CarePartners Hospice and Palliative Care in Asheville, North Carolina. He is a past member of the South Carolina Medical Board’s Medical Disciplinary Committee. Dr. Fox currently serves on the Board for The Carolina Center for Hospice and End of Life Care.
Education: Medical School, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, 1986; Residency, University of Virginia Affiliated Programs, Roanoke, VA, 1989; American Board of Internal Medicine, 1990, recert. 2004; American Board of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, 2008, recert 2018; Hospice Medical Director Certification Board, 2016; Fellow, American College of Physicians, 2009; Fellow, American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, 2010
Elder Angela Overton, MDiv. | Senior Advisor, Interfaith Workgroup, Coalition to Transform Advanced Care (C-TAC)
Elder Angela Overton, MDiv., an effective communicator of what it means to receive and share Divine Holy Love. Angela is widely known for her practical and dynamic teaching style which helps people apply the timeless truths of sacred text to their everyday lives. She has been preaching, teaching and providing pastoral care for 25 years. Angela resides in Louisville, Kentucky where she serves as an Assistant Minister at Burnett Avenue Baptist Church. She is a former Contract Chaplain for Norton Healthcare filling in for Staff Chaplains; where she provided spiritual guidance, emotional support and direct care to patients, family members and staff.
Angela is the founder and director of Care Well in Louisville, KY; where she works with Faith Leaders as they work in partnership to care well for those in their places of worship who are sick and shut-in. She is the Senior Advisor at the Coalition to Transform Advanced Care (C-TAC) in Washington, DC of the Interfaith Workgroup. Angela oversees faith and diversity leaders across the United States where they are functioning to improve advanced illness care in our health systems, the quality of care and determinants of goals of care for the person with advanced illness, and their caregivers by creating, providing and implementing best practices and tangible resources for distribution to faith leaders to be shared with their community.
Angela is a cancer survivor, which she believes has been one of her greatest accomplishments and best experiences outside of being a mother that she has had. It is her belief that this experience provided the lens of the patient and fueled her desire, drive and devotion to intersect spiritual and clinical care for those facing illness.
She has volunteered for, and worked with numerous faith-based and not for profit organizations since her cancer experience in 1996. She currently sits on the board of Hosparus Health Care Guide Partners.
Angela earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History with a concentration in Social Sciences from the University of Louisville.
Angela earned a Master’s degree in Divinity and a Black Church Studies Certificate from the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
Her favorite reference of sacred text is found in the Bible ‘35For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Matthew 25:35-36
Marisette Hasan, BSN, RN | President/CEO, The Carolinas Center
Marisette Hasan graduated from the University of South Carolina with Bachelors of Science Degree in Nursing. She has worked professionally as an RN since 1981 in various roles: oncology nurse, hospice nurse, clinical manager, home health and hospice administrator and nurse consultant. She currently serves as the President& CEO for The Carolinas Center for Hospice and End of Life Care (TCC). She is passionately engaged in supporting hospice and palliative care providers in North and South Carolina through leadership, innovation, public advocacy and regulatory technical assistance. In addition to her current role, she serves as the Co-Chair for the My Life My Choices 1.8 million dollar SC ACP grant initiative, funded by BCBS SC Foundation for the SC Coalition of the Care of the Seriously Ill. This initiative is focused on raising education and awareness with clinicians and underserved community citizens, incorporating a technology pilot to store ACP documents for rapid access with an E-repository. She is engaged on the national front as a member of the NHPCO Council of States Steering Committee, the NHPCO Palliative Care Advisory Council, NHPCO Diversity Advisory Council and the CTAC National State Coalition Task Force. She is certified as an ELNEC trainer, Respecting Choices Facilitator, and Serous Illness Conversation Guide Trainer. Finally, Marisette is engaged in research as a community stakeholder Co-Investigator for a PCORI grant initiative led by Dr. Kimberly Johnson to investigate and implement effective tools to eliminate ACP disparities among African Americans in 5 states.
Judy Connelly, MSN, | Senior Manager, Simione
Judy Connelly, BSN, MSN, SPHR is a seasoned hospice and palliative care executive with extensive experience in operations, quality, and HR management enabling her to achieve efficiencies, positive economic results, and high-quality outcomes. Her over 27 years of experience in hospice, palliative care, and hospice inpatient management and excellent leadership skills have been reflected in low turnover rates, excellent staff and customer satisfaction, and high productivity rates. Judy has worked with hospices and palliative care teams which are affiliated/owned by partner hospitals, independent community-based, homecare-based and CARF accredited organizations. A long tenure with the PA state hospice association (PA Hospice and Palliative Care Network), as well as other board activities, has facilitated a depth of knowledge and collaboration with hospice providers across the country.
Judy possesses degrees from Boston College (BSN) and University of Pittsburgh (MSN), along with professional certifications and designations in palliative care, hospice, leadership and management, quality, and human resources.
Alicia Sterritt, MSW | Quality/Compliance Officer, Hospice of the Carolina Foothills
Alicia Howell Sterritt is the Quality and Compliance Officer for Hospice of the Carolina Foothills in NC. Alicia began her career in long term care before moving on to the Hospice industry where she now has 20 years of experience, beginning as a patient care social worker, then expanding her skills to an inpatient unit project coordinator and quality and compliance manager. Alicia worked for The Carolina’s Center for 3 ½ years, before going back to work for a Hospice organization. Her Hospice experience expands across both Carolinas, where she has experience with regulations in both states, accreditation, and working with Palmetto GBA on the Hospice coalition. TCC recognized Alicia’s talented and dedicated work with the first Tamra West Leadership Award in 2014. Alicia holds a bachelor’s degree in social work from Winthrop University and a master’s in social work from The University of SC in Columbia. She lives in Upstate SC with her husband and 3 young children.
John Morris, MD, FAAHPM | Chief Medical Officer of Serious Illness, Telios Collaborative Network
John Morris is passionate about helping people and organizations develop excellent care for people stressed with serious illness. His role is to teach, mentor and develop great clinicians, leaders and organizations to care for people with serious illness.
As a critical care physician, John witnessed just how stressful serious illness can be for patients and families. He started working for Four Seasons in 2003 to develop palliative care programs. He has worked with numerous hospital systems and hospice organizations to develop serious illness care in the hospitals and in the community.
John is co-director of the Palliative Care Immersion Course. This experiential learning experience for clinicians uses innovative techniques and role play to teach clinical palliative care skills several times yearly. John also teaches palliative care program development as a faculty member for CAPC.
In 2016 John helped co-found Four Seasons Consulting Group (FSCG), a coaching and consulting company enabling health systems, hospitals, post-acute providers, and hospice organizations develop palliative care programs, clinical leaders, best practices, and the systems necessary to produce great outcomes in their own organizations.
John was a founding member of Teleios Collaborative Network as Chief Medical Officer for Serious Illness Care. Teleios now has 11 member organizations providing community-based palliative care services to more than 3500 people with serious illness in NC, VA, SC, Tx and LA.
John has a Masters in Leadership from the Thayer Institute.
John is married to Peggy Noel MD founder of MemoryCare, a non profit established to help people caring for a loved one with dementia. They moved to Asheville in 1989 and have raised 3 children here. John enjoys running, hiking the NC mountains, fly fishing, gardening, and beekeeping. This activity allows him to enjoy dining out with Peggy in all the great Asheville restaurants.
Ellen, Fulp, PharmD, MSPC, BCGP, | Director of Pharmacy Education, AvaCare, Inc.
Ellen Fulp is a pharmacist with AvaCare, an independent hospice pharmacy benefits manager. She currently serves as AvaCare’s Director of Pharmacy Education. Ellen earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Pharmaceutical Science and her Doctor of Pharmacy Degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She completed her Master’s Degree in Palliative Care at the University of Colorado, as the only pharmacist member of the inaugural class. Ellen is Board Certified in Geriatric Pharmacy, specializing in safe, appropriate medication use in the elderly. She works closely with state and national hospice and palliative care organizations to improve medication use for patients facing serious illness and is a founding member for the Society of Pain and Palliative Care Pharmacists. Her interests include pain management in the geriatric patient population, medication appropriateness, and timely access to symptom management for patients living with a serious illness.
Wayne H. Grant, PharmD, MBA | Delta Care RX
Dr. Grant’s career in pharmacy has focused on advocacy, strategy and clinical application. Dr. Grant has given testimony regarding House Bill 366, a bill requiring hospice organizations to establish procedures to decrease opioid diversion. He advised on tone and intent of bill as stated in a final law and specifics considered under rules of law, enabling changes without modifying law intent; attained recognition by a representative on the floor of the House. Dr. Grant served as member of the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association charged with providing input on determining methods to accept, change, and implement a formulary based on past work by the Office of Inspector General; attended the Advocacy Intensive, driving efforts to halt Medicare Part D legislation and eliminating expectations for Part D sponsors to place hospice-related prior authorization requirements on other drug categories. Dr. Grant has been part of many committees in support of hospice and pharmacy issues.
Dr. Grant has prepared and delivered educational classes to physicians, nurses, and healthcare professions, detailing pain management, heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, chronic kidney disease, dementia, and cancer-related issues.
Serving as an integral member of a number of committees, including the pharmacy and therapeutics and motor neuron disease groups to promote medical intervention requirements and appropriateness to drive quality and build a highly collaborative consortium among healthcare professionals.
Partnering with executive teams to evaluate and assess managerial and administrative functions, including contract analysis, revision, and negotiation, enabling the agency to meet financial goals while developing long term strategic plans to exceed the needs of the agency and client.
Annette Kiser, RN, MSN, NE-BC, CHC | Chief Compliance Officer, Teleios Collaborative Network
Annette Kiser is the Chief Compliance Officer for Teleios Collaborative Network with more than 34 years of experience working with hospice and palliative care providers. She worked for 24 years with community-based not-for-profit hospices as a nursing leader and then as a quality and compliance expert. She spent more than 6 years with a two-state hospice and palliative care association providing technical assistance and education to organizations. For the past three years, Annette has worked with hospice and palliative care organizations in multiple states to implement best practices, address compliance needs, and navigate the challenges of federal and state audits and surveys. She consults with other providers and industry leaders as an expert on hospice regulations.
Kristie Szarpa, MSN, ANP-BC, ACHPN | Senior Director of Practice Management & Serious Illness Services, Mountain Valley Hospice & Palliative Care
Kristie joined Mountain Valley Hospice & Palliative Care in April 2018. Palliative & Hospice medicine has been her passion and specialty for most of her career. A native of Williamsville, NY, she worked for the Center for Hospice & Palliative Care in Buffalo, NY for many years. She then worked nearly 5 years at Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital as a palliative medicine specialist with Infinity Medical of WNY PC. She earned her Master’s of Science Degree in Nursing from Daemen College. She is board-certified both as an adult nurse practitioner and in palliative care.
Krisitie and her husband moved to Pinnacle, NC in January 2018. They are active members of Tow Cities Church in Winston Salem, NC. Their daughter is a Registered Nurse who has also moved to Pinnacle and works in a local hospital.
Christine Lau, RN, LCSW, APHSW-C | VP of Serious Illness Operations and Care Management, Teleios Collaborative Network
Christine is dually licensed as a registered nurse and clinical social worker. Knowing from a young age that she wanted to work with people facing illness, she sought out both degrees in order to holistically address the physical, emotional, and psychosocial aspects of living with illness. Christine’s career has included work in oncology, hospice and palliative care in roles which have allowed her to use both degrees in direct clinical care and leadership positions.
Christine serves as the VP of Serious Illness Operations and Care Management for Teleios Collaborative Network where she serves as an operational coach to network agencies and as a resource for education and mentoring of nurses and social workers providing serious illness care across the network. Christine is also faculty at the California State University Shirley Institute for Palliative Care for their post-MSW palliative care certificate program.
Aye P. Aung, MD, HMDC, FAAHPM | Vice President, Executive Medical Director HSP, Amedisys Inc.
Lori Bishop, MHA, BSN, RN, CHPN | Vice President of Palliative and Advanced Care, National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO)
Lori Bishop is a healthcare nurse executive focused on innovative and transformational interdisciplinary care delivery models for the vulnerable seriously ill population. Lori has an extensive clinical background in hospice and palliative care. Her current position is Vice President of Palliative and Advanced Care at NHPCO. Previously, Lori was the Chief Advanced Illness Management (AIM) Executive for Sutter Health serving an average daily census of 2500 seriously ill patients across Northern California. Under her leadership, the Sutter Health AIM program received the inaugural Vanguard Award from the California Hospital Quality Institute in 2016. In her previous executive role at UnityPoint Health, the system-wide integrated Palliative Care program received the prestigious Circle of Life Award in 2013.
Lori has a history of participating on several state and national boards and committees. Lori received her RN diploma from Moline Public Hospital School of Nursing, her BSN and MHA from the University of Phoenix. She is a published author and national speaker. Lori was recognized as a top 100 Great Iowa Nurses in 2009 and received the Iowa Spirit of Hospice Award in 2001.