Event Guide: 2015 VNAA Annual Meeting

Visiting Nurse Associations of America
HOME-BASED CARE:
AnnualMeeting2015
N E W O R L E A N S
DRIVING POPULATION HEALTH

2 Visiting Nurse Associations of America
OUR MISSION:
TO SUPPORT, PROMOTE AND
ADVANCE NONPROFIT PROVIDERS OF
COMMUNITY-BASED HEALTHCARE
INCLUDING HOME HEALTH, HOSPICE AND
PALLIATIVE CARE AND HEALTH PROMOTION
SERVICES TO ENSURE QUALITY CARE
WITHIN THEIR COMMUNITIES.
Visiting Nurse Associations of America

33nd Annual Meeting | Apr. 20–22, 2015 3
Table of Contents
Welcome to Annual Meeting! ........................................................................................................... 4
Agenda At-a-Glance ............................................................................................................................ 5
Preconferences ................................................................................................................................... 8
Plenary Sessions ............................................................................................................................... 10
Poster Sessions ................................................................................................................................. 12
Breakout Sessions ............................................................................................................................ 16
Breakout Topic Tracks ..................................................................................................................... 26
National Award Winners ................................................................................................................ 28
Sponsors and Partners .................................................................................................................. 31
Exhibit Hall Information .................................................................................................................. 32
Booth Listing ...................................................................................................................................... 34
Booth Map .......................................................................................................................................... 41
Attendee Information ...................................................................................................................... 42
Upcoming Events in 2015 .............................................................................................................. 43
Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................... 44
Board of Directors and Staff ......................................................................................................... 45
Notes .................................................................................................................................................... 46

Welcome to Annual Meeting!
Discover How Home-
based Care Is Driving
Population Health.
Welcome to the Visiting Nurse Associations
of America’s 33rd Annual Meeting in New
Orleans! VNAA is exited to host this gathering of
executives, clinical experts and thought leaders
from the field of nonprofit home health and
hospice.
In 2015, the role of home-based care as a
provider, partner and innovator in population
health is front and center at the Annual Meeting.
From keynote speakers to the exhibit floor to
interest group meetings, each facet of the Annual
Meeting will have the role of home-based care in
the healthcare spectrum at its core.
With four breakout tracks, the educational
programming is designed to illustrate how all
staff levels and disciplines can provide the best
outcomes for patient care in home health and
hospice agencies while developing innovative
partnerships to advance population health.
If at any point during the Meeting you have a
question about the agenda or venue, one of our
friendly VNAA staff will be happy to assist you.
They can be found at all events and programs
throughout the Meeting, as well as at the
registration desk outside the Roosevelt Ballroom.
Welcome to The Big Easy!
New Orleans is one of the world’s most
fascinating cities. Steeped in a history of
influences from Europe, the Caribbean, Africa
and beyond, its home to a truly unique melting
pot of culture, food and music.
You’ll find bowls filled to the rim with gumbo,
late nights in dark jazz clubs, strolls through
historic neighborhoods, and tantalizing
festivals throughout the year. Come down and
experience New Orleans, one of America’s most
culturally and historically-rich destinations.
NewOrleansOnline.com can introduce you to all
of the Big Easy’s greatest charms. As the official
New Orleans tourism guide, the site is loaded
with resources that will help you make the most
of your visit.

Agenda At-a-Glance
Monday, April 20
12:00 – 3:45 p.m. ............................................................................................................................................... Preconferences
5:00 – 6:30 p.m. ........................................................................................................................................... Opening Reception
Waldorf Astoria Ballroom
Tuesday, April 21
7:00 – 8:00 a.m. ........................................................................................................................................... Attendee Breakfast
8:00 – 10:00 a.m. ............................................................................................................................................. Opening Plenary
Crescent City Ballroom
Community Partnerships with Nontraditional Providers: Working Together to Drive Population Health
10:00 – 10:45 a.m. ............................................................................................................................................................... Break
Sponsored by Intel
10:45 – 11:30 a.m. ................................................................................................................................ Breakout Session One
11:45 – 1:45 p.m. .................................................................................................... Exhibit Hall Lunch and Poster Session
Roosevelt Ballroom
Sponsored by Philips
Clinical Operations
VNA Health Group: Transforming Transitional Care Through
Partnership
Chamber 1
Hospice
Pharmaceutical Costs and Hospice Care: Staying Focused on
the Patient, Not the Cost
Chamber 2
Innovation and Partnership
Managed Long Term Care, New York State’s Solution to
Managing the Care of Chronically Ill and Aging Medicaid
Recipients
Chamber 3
Telehealth 2.0: The Next Phase in Connecting Patients,
Physicians and Home Care Providers Through Technology
Chamber 1
Population Health and the Impact on Care Redesign and
New Payment Models
Chamber 2

2:00 – 2:45 p.m. ..................................................................................................................................... Breakout Session Two
3:00 – 4:00 p.m. .................................................................................................................................. Breakout Session Three
4:00 – 4:15 p.m. .................................................................................................................................................................... Break
4:15 – 5:15 p.m. .................................................................................................................................... Breakout Session Four
5:30 – 7:30 p.m. ................................................................................................. Exhibit Hall Reception and Poster Session
Roosevelt Ballroom
Wednesday, April 22
7:30 – 8:45 a.m. ........................................................................................................................................... Attendee Breakfast
7:00 – 8:00 a.m. .................................................................................................................................................... CEO Breakfast
(Invite Only)
AgendaAt-a-Glance
Clinical Operations
Operational Challenges and Solutions
Chamber 1
Hospice
Building a Culture of Philanthropy for Fundraising Success
Chamber 2
Innovation and Partnerships
The Impact on Satisfaction and Outcomes of Outgoing Calls
to Home Health Care Patients
Chamber 3
Finance
Using “Scorecards” to Manage Revenue Cycle Compliance
Chamber 4
Clinical Operations
Weaving Health Literate Care into Integrated Care
Management: Our Journey
Chamber 1
Hospice
Hospice Documentation: From Admission to ADR—Proving
Decline
Chamber 2
Partnering with the ED: A New Way to Reduce
Hospitalizations
Chamber 3
Finance
Diversifying Revenue Sources for Increased Stability
Chamber 4
Clinical Operations
Teach Your Clinicians to Document Superbly:
Documentation that Avoids Regulatory and Legal Risks
Chamber 1
Hospice
Creating a Culture of Accountability - The Key to Mind-
Blowing Quality and Profits
Chamber 2
Community and Acute Care Partnership - An Innovative
Model for Patient Management
Chamber 3
Finance
Pulling Back the Curtain - Untapped Areas of ACA
Opportunity in your Current Care Programs
Chamber 4

AgendaAt-a-Glance
8:45 – 9:30 a.m. ...................................................................................................................................... Breakout Session Five
9:45 – 10:30 a.m. ..................................................................................................................................... Breakout Session Six
10:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. ....................................................................... National Awards Ceremony and Closing Plenary
Insights for Medicaid Managed Care Partnerships
12:45 a.m. – 1:15 p.m. ................................................................................................................................. Business Meeting
(Affiliate members only)
1:15 – 2:00 p.m. .................................................................................................... Quality and Policy Joint Council Meeting
(Affiliate members only)
2:15 – 3:00 p.m. ................................................................................................................................. Interest Group Meetings
Clinical Operations
Translating Evidence Based Practices into Tangible
Approaches in the Home to Achieve Quality Care
Chamber 1
Hospice
Preserving Patients’ Legacies through Creative
Collaborations
Chamber 2
Advancing Organizational Culture While Capitalizing on
Technology
Chamber 3
Finance
A Deep Dive into the Data Behind Hospital Readmissions:
Helping Agencies Reduce Rates Further
Chamber 4
Clinical Operations
The IMPACT Act of 2014: Preparing for Change
Chamber 1
Hospice
The Rapid Intervention Clinical Model for Acute Respiratory
Symptoms: How One Hospice Promotes a Plan of Care
to Identify and Intervene for Hospice Patients at Risk for
Hospitalization
Chamber 2
Engaging Strategic Partners in New Models of Care
Chamber 3
Finance
The VNAA Nonprofit Industry Research Database: Progress
Update
Chamber 4
Business Development and Financial Leaders
Chamber 1
Clinical Leaders
Chamber 2
Hospice Roundtable
Chamber 3
Database Advisory Board
Chamber 4
(Invitation Only)
IT Leaders
VBP Task Force
Salon 2
(PPCSC members encouraged to attend)

PRECONFERENCES
Kristen Walsh, Health Policy Advisor, Senate Finance Committee | VNAA Annual Meeting 2012

Preconferences
Preconference One
April 20, 12:00 – 3:45 p.m. | Chamber 1
Telehealth 2.0: The Next Phase in
Connecting Patients, Physicians
and Home Care Providers Through
Technology
Lena O’Rourke, O’Rourke Health Policy Strategies
(moderator)
Liz Palena-Hall, Office of the National Coordinator on
Health IT
Liz Madigan, Case Western Reserve University
Rene Quashie, Epstein, Becker & Green
Alan Bugos, Head of Technology and Innovation for
Philips Home Monitoring
Telehealth and the use of information technology
is rapidly advancing from consumer wellness
wearables to virtual visits. With this expansion
comes interest from Congress, regulatory
bodies and privacy advocates. Panelists will offer
perspectives on where health IT is head, the basis
and scope of regulation and privacy issues and
how home-based care organizations can play a
key role in uniting patients and physicians across
the country with the touch of a screen.
Preconference Two
April 20, 12:00 – 3:45 p.m. | Chamber 2
Population Health and the Impact on Care
Redesign and New Payment Models
Jim Pyles, Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville
Rose Madden-Baer, Visiting Nurse Service of New York
(VNSNY)
Erin Denholm, Centura Health in Colorado
Katherine Browne, Center for Health Care Quality
George Washington University
The new models of health care are based on
population health and new delivery systems that
integrate the clinical needs of the patient and
family across the many sites of care. The models
utilize multiple new opportunities to deliver care
through the use of federal programs such as
Bundling payment for Care Improvement (BPCI),
Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs, through
both state and federal initiatives as well as
through demonstration projects. These programs
share an important goal, to lower the cost of
care while improving quality and achieving better
health.
These presenters will describe how they
incorporated new strategies and arrangements
through the use of care coordination platforms,
risk stratification, data analysis and predictive
analysis with programs targeted at reducing
hospitalization and emergency department use.

PLENARY SESSIONS
Blair Childs, Premier, Inc. | VNAA Annual Meeting 2014

Plenary Sessions
Opening Plenary
April 21, 8:00 – 10:00 a.m.| Crescent City Ballroom
Community Partnerships with
Nontraditional Providers: Working
Together to Drive Population Health
Mike Blatt, M.D., MBA, Intel Corporation
Ceci Connolly, PriceWaterhouseCoopers
Nancy J. Gagliano, M.D., CVS Caremark; MinuteClinic
Population-based management is the future
of health care and will rely heavily on services
delivered outside the traditional hospital or
physician office setting. Home-based care will
become increasingly important as the baby-
boom population ages and payers focus on
less expensive sites of care and preventive
services. To stay ahead of the curve, health
care providers across the continuum must
engage in new partnerships with both traditional
and nontraditional providers. Home-based
care providers, especially, must explore new
business models to implement successful
population health management strategies.
Success starts with awareness of consumer
needs and preferred services, identification and
implementation of supportive technologies and
engagement with other community partners who
may be new entrants to care delivery in your
community. This panel presents leading experts
from technology, consumer and retail industry
segments who will highlight the opportunities
in innovative models to engage patients, offer
convenience and expand access.
These presenters will describe how they
incorporated new strategies and arrangements
through the use of care coordination platforms,
risk stratification, data analysis and predictive
analysis with programs targeted at reducing
hospitalization and emergency department use.
Closing Plenary
April 22, 10:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. | Crescent City
Ballroom
Insights for Medicaid Managed Care
Partnerships
Michael Monson, Centene Corporation
Jeff Myers, Medicaid Health Plans of America
Chad Westover, University of Utah Health Care
Gary Jacobs, PricewaterhouseCoopers (Moderator)
The movement of states toward managed care
for all beneficiaries is changing the scope of
managed care services. Medicaid managed care
organizations will need new comprehensive
strategic partnerships to include long term
community supports and services (LTCSS) such as
home health services. Home health opportunities
in this market segment will grow significantly as
more states expand Medicaid covered-populations
and move toward managed care models. This
panel presents leading Medicaid payer experts
and experienced home health industry leaders
to highlight the opportunities and challenges for
both Medicaid managed care organizations and
home health care providers. Panelists will examine
market factors driving this growth opportunity,
present elements of successful partnerships
between managed care organizations and home
health providers and offer advice to home health
providers who seek to demonstrate their value to
potential Medicaid partners.

POSTER SESSION
Poster Session | VNAA Annual Meeting 2012

Poster Session
Posters will be available for viewing for on
Tuesday, April 21. To meet the poster authors,
ask questions and learn more about the
programs that interest you, attend the Poster
Session on Tuesday, April 21, from 11:45 a.m. -
1:00 p.m and 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. All posters are
eligible for continuing nursing education credit
hours.
The poster session covers a wide variety of topics
including alternative therapies, wound care, celiac
disease, hospitalization in pediatric patients, and
evidence-based practice in hospice and palliative
care.
Knowledge and Best Practices to Achieve
Outcomes to Rank in the Top 25 Percent
of Home Care Agencies and Earn
HomeCare Elite Status
Marge Superior, RN, MSN, VNA Health Group
Wendy Ebner, RN, MSN, CRRN, VNA Health Group
Our goal of this learning session is to share
our best practices that enabled us to improve
patient outcomes and patient satisfaction
scores, contributing to consistent achievement
of HomeCare Elite status. HomeCare Elite is
the annual compilation of the top 25 percent
of agencies in the nation. Cape VNA and Robert
Wood Johnson Home Care are joint ventures of
VNA Health Group. Both Agencies have achieved
HomeCare Elite status for several years and
most recently in 2014. In addition, Cape VNA was
named in the top 100 agencies for 2013. There
are three main objectives for this session. First,
we will review the outcomes that contribute to
obtaining Elite status, enabling the learner to
name those outcomes. Second, we will share our
best practices and processes used to improve
outcomes and patient satisfaction. Third, the
learner will be able to evaluate results to achieve
sustainability through a review of lessons learned
in our agencies. At the completion of the session
participants will understand what strategies and
processes are essential to engage employees
to embrace improving patient outcomes and to
create an outstanding patient experience.
The current environment for reimbursement is
one of the most tumultuous for home health
care providers. Achieving HomeCare Elite
Status is becoming increasingly essential for
the viability of home care organizations across
the country. With the implementation of value
based reimbursement guidelines, under the
Affordable Care Act, quality outcomes are an
essential component of home care agencies.
Reimbursement will be dependent on the
achievement of superior patient outcomes and
high levels of patient satisfaction. Strong alliances
with hospitals, insurers, physician groups, and
other levels of care are indispensible in this
environment. Home care agencies with the best
outcomes will be positioned for growth and
viability. This program will define a home health
agency’s success in repeatedly achieving Home
Care Elite Status. Outcomes that contribute to
this status, patient satisfaction, evidenced based
practice strategies that help improve outcomes,
and program evaluation will be explored.
Home Care Agencies with excellent patient
outcomes and superior patient satisfaction will
be positioned to survive and thrive in this ever
changing environment.

Innovative Home Care Diabetic Foot
Management
Candice Curtin, RN, BSN, WCC, DWC, OMS, Candice
Curtin Consulting
Diabetes affects approximately 26 million
people in the U.S. Of those, up to 32 percent
will develop a diabetic foot ulcer (DFU). With
a closure rate of only 31percent at 20 weeks,
treating these wounds can often lead to lengthy
home health episodes, re-hospitalizations, and
extensive costs with poor outcomes. A thorough
literature review showed the Total Contact Cast
(TCC) as the “gold standard of care” but it had
numerous contraindications, while not practical
in most settings. Literature reported that a TCC
modification, the instant Total Contact Cast (iTCC),
could be used in any setting and it eliminated
the TCC contraindications but had drawbacks
such as periwound maceration. After evaluating
many dressing types with the iTCC, we developed
a best practice protocol which was then applied
to complex DFU patients. Home health nurses
applied the iTCC and polymeric membrane
dressing (PMD) 2-3 times a week, depending on
exudate amounts. The outcomes validated our
practice. All 3 wounds closed in an average of 6.8
weeks. This approach to DFU healing significantly
reduced costs, improved patient outcomes,
eliminated re-hospitalizations, and the results
were used to gain new referral sources. The iTCC/
PMD approach is the new DFU gold standard of
care for our agency.
Our goal in this session is to present that using
a simple, practical off-loading approach (instant
Total Contact Cast plus Polymeric Membrane
Dressings) to manage diabetic foot ulcers
will not only decrease episode costs and re-
hospitalization rates, but it will increase healing
rates, improve patient and physician satisfaction,
and assist in attaining new referrals in home care.
Participants will learn the following objectives
from attending this session:
1. Discuss what other standards of care are
being used and why those methods are not
working.
2. Demonstrate how our approach is done
with step by step instructions for the instant
Total Contact Cast with Polymeric Membrane
Dressings.
3. Identify the overall outcomes which
showed a significant reduction in costs,
improved healing times, and the elimination
of complications and re-hospitalizations
associated with DFUs.
4. Conclude how this approach can be used as
a marketing strategy to gain new referrals
and new referral sources.
Impact and Role of a Pharmacist in
Conjunction with VNA Nurses
Christy Mesick, VNA of Kansas City
Hospital readmission rates for Medicare
beneficiaries continues to be a major healthcare
concern. Readmission rates for Medicare patients
with disease states such as heart failure and
COPD are as high as 20 percent within 30 days of
discharge. The VNA of KC believes that providing
pharmacist conducted medication reconciliation
and pharmaceutical care will result in decreased
medication related problems and a decrease in 30
day hospital readmission.
Preventing Rehospitalization: Utilizing
Paraprofessionals in Frontloading and
Health Coaching Efforts to Ensure
Stabilization at Home for the Most At Risk
Patient Population
Ann Marie Peckam, RN, MS/MBA, VNA of Cape Cod
It takes a home care village to keep the most
at-risk patient at home once discharged from the
hospital. We studied our hospitalized patients
in attempt to identify “trends” with regard to
patient diagnosis or condition and discovered
that the most at-risk patient seems to be one
PosterSessions

with very little support in his/her home and
at the same time the one who requires quite
a bit of assistance to reacclimatize to the
home environment and/or requires significant
assistance and follow-up to jump start their
journey toward self-management. Nurse
case managers with caseloads of 20 to 25
patients needed help ensuring visits could be
frontloaded to the extent necessary to helping
the patient feel confident and comfortable with
self-managing his/her symptoms, medications,
nutrition, etc. Additionally, ensuring the patient
makes and keeps an appointment with his/her
physician within those first few days was critical
to preventing the dreaded return trip to the
hospital. We felt we could provide education to
a group of our paraprofessionals and ‘partner’
them with the nurse/therapist case managers to
enhance our ability to frontload and coach the
most at-risk patient population and study the
effect on preventing rehospitalization. We’d like
to share our success story with you.
Our primary goal in this session is to present
a description of a pilot project we developed
at VNA of Cape Cod to raise the bar on our
efforts to ensure quick stabilization of the most
at-risk patients discharged from the hospital.
Our paraprofessionals received training in
the rudimentary elements of health coaching
and in partnership with the Nurse/Therapist
reinforced the patient activities most likely to
prevent rehospitalization: red flags, follow-up
appointment with physician, procurement of
appropriate medications, etc. The specially
trained aides were assigned to see the identified
patient population 2 to 3 times in week 1 and
with a nurse/therapist visiting at least twice in
week 1 as well frontloading to ensure almost
daily coaching/reassurance is established. The
‘team’ works together to encourage patients
to actively participate in the plan of care and
all efforts related to reacclimating to the home
environment and making sure it supports them
in their efforts toward self-management and
independence.
This continuing nursing education activity was
approved by the Maryland Nurses Association,
an accredited approver by the American Nurses
Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
How to Claim Your Credits
To receive credits for attendance of a
poster session, the attendee must:
1. Attend the poster session at
Annual Meeting.
2. Complete the required amount
of time reading the poster (30
minutes). You may earn CEUs for
all posters at this year’s Annual
Meeting.
3. Complete and submit the
evaluation for each poster session
attended in the poster booklet to
VNAA before you leave the Annual
Meeting. Your certificate will be
emailed to you after the Meeting.
4. The licensee must retain the
certificate for a period of six (6)
years after completing the course.
PosterSession

BREAKOUT SESSIONS
Arnie Cisneros, Home Health Strategic Management | VNAA Annual Meeting 2011

Breakout Session One
Tuesday, April 21 | 10:45 - 11:30 a.m.
Approved for 0.75 credit
Clinical Operations | Chamber 1
VNA Health Group: Transforming
Transitional Care Through Partnership
Marie Perillo, RN, BSN, VNA Health Group
Kimberly Mora, RN, BSN, VNA Health Group
Transitional Care prevents the adverse outcomes
that are prevalent during the movement of a
patient from one setting of care to another.
VNA Health Group is the lead community based
organization (CBO) in a collaborative transitional
care partnership between six acute care
hospitals, four home health agencies, and four
community health partners that seeks to improve
care transitions for high risk patient populations.
By conducting PDSAs and developing process
improvement initiatives we have improved
enrollment numbers and decreased all-cause
readmission rates. This breakout session shares
the value behind establishing partnerships and
the critical steps involved in creating a successful
transitional care initiative.
Hospice | Chamber 2
Pharmaceutical Costs and Hospice Care:
Staying Focused on the Patient, Not the
Cost
Danielle Pierotti, RN, PhD, AOCN, CHON, HCI Care
Services and VNS of Iowa
Many hospice teams are struggling with new
pressures on the costs of medications. Resisting
the pressure to focus on the cost of medications
is difficult but critical to maximizing patient
quality of life. Keeping clinicians focused on
patient needs requires integrated team work and
planning. This program will describe a layered
approach to improving the use of medications
for quality of life in hospice by utilizing a
multidisciplinary approach, with a clinical
decision tree and formulary, designed to reduce
pharmaceutical costs as a side effect.
Innovation and Partnerships | Chamber 3
Managed Long Term Care, New York
State’s Solution to Managing the Care
of Chronically Ill and Aging Medicaid
Recipients
Mary Kate Rolf, FACHE, Home Care of Central New
York
Andrea Lazarek-LaQuay, MS, RN, Home Care of
Central New York
Managed Long Term Care (MLTC) plans are a
part of New York State’s commitment to provide
community based services and supports to
Medicaid-eligible persons in need. This additional
choice for seniors has extended and become
mandatory enrollment for recipients that require
long term care services to enroll into a MLTC.
This managed Medicaid program is intended to
improve client outcomes and provide incentive to
deliver care in a cost-effective manner, through
capitation. These Managed Long Term Care
programs can serve as models to develop similar
programs to cover Medicaid eligible elderly
population across the country.
This session will provide and over of the
history and development of the program and
Breakout Sessions Sponsored by:

services provided to members and provide an
understanding of the program’s operations,
including eligibility criteria, overview of the
assessment performed and review of care
coordination and care planning processes.
Breakout Session Two
Tuesday, April 21 | 2:00 - 2:45 p.m.
Teach Your Clinicians to Document
Superbly: Documentation That Avoids
Regulatory and Legal Risks
Tina M. Marrelli, MSN, MA, RN, FAAN, Marrelli and
Associates, Inc.
Mary Narayan, MSN, RN, HHCNS-BC, CTN, VNAA
Your clinicians’ documentation can support or
jeopardize:
1. Clinical management and outcomes;
2. Payment from Medicare and other payers;
3. Reviews of regulatory compliance; and
4. Legal liability defense against claims of
malpractice.
All agencies require their clinicians to document
well, but achieve varying amounts of success.
The purpose of this presentation is to arm
agency leaders with information and strategies
they can bring back to their clinicians to help
them “get” and deliver good documentation.
The presenters bring two different perspectives
to the documentation challenge. One presenter
has developed nationally-acclaimed publications
with “best practice” recommendations for
supporting documentation standards in home
health care. The other presenter is a home health
clinical nurse specialist, who has analyzed home
health documentation in malpractice cases as an
“expert witness.”
Hospice | Chamber 2
Creating a Culture of Accountability: The
Key to Mind-Blowing Quality and Profits
Andrew Reed, CPA, Multi-View Incorporated Systems
Accountability or lack of accountability
determines whether or not initiatives are
accomplished and if standards maintained at
an organization. Large or small, the mission is
accomplished through people, and given unclear
standards/direction, people will often do little or
end up with costly, ineffective, low-quality results.
Among the problems with most organization’s
accountability approach is that they are
typically dependent upon a manager’s personal
supervisor of work. Why is this a problem?
Because human beings’ levels of energy are
not consistent, and therefore rise and fall over
time. In today’s hospice environment, more
and more energy is demanded to comply with
increased requirements and complexity. Much
of the solution lies in the use of “structures” that
are non-dependent upon manager’s levels of
energy or physical presence and that perpetually
maintain the established standards of the
organization over long periods of time. This
program addresses the topic of Accountability
head on...from the establishment of clear
standards to the structures needed to ensure
that the ideals and standards of the organization
are carried out by every person of an enterprise
Community and Acute Care Partnership:
An Innovative Model for Patient
Management
Kenneth Schonbachler, MBA, MPT, VNA of Western
New York
As the healthcare landscape in the United
States reinvents itself around the triple aim
model, hospitals, health systems, and post-
BreakoutSessions

BreakoutSessions
acute care providers often struggle with the
optimization of transitioning care from facilities
to the community. This presentation details the
implementation of an innovative partnership
between a health system’s flagship tertiary care
hospital and their home health care agency,
the VNA of Western New York. This partnership
ultimately involved contracted management
of the patient management department to the
home care agency, a re-design of the patient
management model, a larger role for VNA staff
in the patient discharge process, and improved
relationships with community post-acute
providers. Key metrics which were measured
and tracked included hospital length of stay,
readmission rates, home care referrals, and
patient experience data. By all accounts the
implementation, while not without barriers and
modification, was a resounding success resulting
in improvement in all key metrics related to
patient and financial outcomes.
Finance | Chamber 4
Pulling Back the Curtain: Untapped Areas
of ACA Opportunity in your Current Care
Programs
Arnie Cisneros, PT, Home Health Strategic
Management
The Affordable Care Act outlines the care
delivery model of the future: Episodic care
programs managed by the ACO in terms of Care
Transitions and efficiency, void of silo influences
from individual Provider types. How can you
begin today to improve your processes for the
ACA Care models; it involves the evolution of
your current programming to a more focused,
efficient delivery model? By rewiring today’s care
protocols, Home Health Providers can prepare
for the care models of tomorrow while improving
clinical and financial results. This presentation
will outline specific areas of the Home Health
PPS Care Model that offer opportunities to
elicit more efficient clinical outcomes while
improving the care you currently deliver to your
patients. What are ACOs seeking from Home
Health in the episodic model, and how do you
currently perform in those areas? Where should
you begin to address your processes to create
new efficiencies, and what problems will you
encounter, and how do you resolve those issues
with supervisory and front-line clinical staff? Don’t
miss this progressive presentation on ushering
your care (and clinicians) into the future of your
care delivery.
Breakout Session Three
Tuesday, April 21 | 3:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Weaving Health Literate Care Into
Integrated Care Management: Our
Journey
Beth Hennessey, RN, BSN, MSN, Sutter Care at Home
Jennifer Pearce, MPA, Sutter Care at Home
Paula Suter, RN, BSN, MA, Sutter Care at Home
The Integrated Care Model (ICM) was designed to
realize the vision of providing care that facilitates
true partnerships with patients and families. This
presentation will outline steps our organization
has taken to deliver person-centered, evidence-
based, health literate care that is coordinated
across providers, sectors and time. The
presentation will highlight how ICM model
delivery is in line with the new CMS proposed
conditions of participation; in particular how ICM
promotes a shared decision-making approach to
care that is understood and valued by patients
and caregivers. Lessons learned about how best
to hardwire these concepts in daily care delivery
will be shared.

Hospice | Chamber 2
Hospice Documentation: From Admission
to ADR—Proving Decline
Cindi Pursley, RN, CHPN, Colorado VNA Hospice &
Palliative Care
Danielle Pierotti, RN, PhD, AOCN, CHON, HCI Care
Services and VNS of Iowa
In this breakout, the presenters will outline the
essence of documentation in hospice. They
will cover how to efficiently document drilling
down on the key components from admission
to discharge with specific emphasis on how
to provide specifics on decline. They will offer
some practical approaches to incorporating
information to the IDT so all team members
are up-to-date on the patient/caregiver status.
Specific attention will be on the spiritual leader’s
team members and ways to keep them involved.
Successful strategies for managing ADRs and
documentation will be discussed.
Partnering With the ED: A New Way to
Reduce Hospitalizations
Jennifer Rittereiser, Christiana Care VNA
Patty Resnik, Christiana Care Health System
Judy Peterson, RN, BSN, VNA of Chittenden and Grand
Isle Counties
Avoidable hospitalizations are expensive and
can potentially cause harm to a patient. They
absorb a significant amount of resources and do
not keep the patient in the environment where
they can be most successful, their home. Low
risk patients who present at the emergency
department (ED) may be unnecessarily
hospitalized due to lack of guaranteed, medical
follow up in the community within 24 hours of
ED discharge. Patients referred from the ED
are often not designated as such, no advanced
notice of discharge is provided and they are
frequently not scheduled differently than other
referrals. Two VNAA member agencies have
adopted partnerships with local EDs. During this
presentation, participants will learn the steps
for building a partnership with local EDs to meet
the triple aim of health care reform, understand
potential opportunities for working with EDs and
identify trends in the ED patients who returned
to the hospital and make changes to improve
future outcomes
To understand the role home care can play in
discharging ED patients to the most appropriate
setting.
Finance | Chamber 4
Diversifying Revenue Sources for
Increased Stability
Mark Sharp, CPA, BKD, LLP
Paul Giles, Dignity Health
This program will provide insight to strategies
associated with diversifying an organization’s
revenue models. There are many things to
consider as you evaluate alternative programs
from understanding your demographics to
the financial feasibility of a particular revenue
diversification. There is one thing for sure:
There is no cookie cutter approach to the right
revenue diversification strategy. The program
will help participants recognize the importance
of revenue diversification in home care and
hospice, understand the methods for evaluating
the opportunities for revenue diversification, and
identify the steps needed to plan and implement
a diversification into new lines of home care
business.
BreakoutSessions

BreakoutSessions
Breakout Session Four
Tuesday, April 21 | 4:15 - 5:15 p.m.
Operational Challenges and Solutions
Rhonda Combs, RN, MSN, BC, Christiana Care VNA
Susan Northover, BSN, MS, Visiting Nurse Service of
New York
Sue Payne, MBA, RN, Advanced Home Care
Kathy Peirce, BSN, MS, VNA of Care New England
Intake Redesign: Presentation on the changes
healthcare reform has presented to home care
services and how we redesigned our intake
process to adapt to these changes and better
meet our patient’s needs.
Preceptor Redesign: Presentation on Advanced
Home Care’s recently revised Preceptor/New Hire
Program and its impact on retaining new hires
and ensuring successful performance of staff.
Individual Practitioner Accountability:
Presentation on Christiana Care Visiting Nurse
Associations approach to accountability and
performance on a team level with scorecards
incorporating goal oriented metrics and baselines
and targets.
Avoiding Re-hospitalization: Presentation on
the struggle home care agencies share with
re-hospitalization. After participating in many
studies I have worked closely with our hospital
to partner on reducing readmissions using best
practices and monitoring tools.
Hospice | Chamber 2
Building a Culture of Philanthropy for
Fundraising Success
Lenora A. Ritchie, APR, CFRE, Bob Carter Companies
Kerry A. Bartlett, CFRE, MBA, Bob Carter Companies
Panelists:
Jamie Summerfelt, PT, Visiting Nurse Association
Theresa Santoro, MSN, RN, CHCA, Ridgefield VNA
Ann Marie McCrystal, VNA of the Treasure Coast
Philanthropy is defined as the desire to promote
the welfare of others, expressed especially by
the generous donation of money to good causes.
Building a culture of philanthropy for fundraising
success requires a shift in thinking from
charitable giving to philanthropic development.
This does not happen easily or quickly. Rather it
takes a comprehensive infrastructure and mind
set, co-created by leadership staff and Board
members, to support this transformational shift.
The goal of this session is to educate participants
on the characteristics of a home health care
agency with a culture of philanthropy and the
potential long term outcomes. In addition to the
speakers, a panel of three current VNA leaders
will share their real life best practices on how
they built this culture and the invaluable benefits
to the mission of the organization.
The Impact on Satisfaction and Outcomes
of Outgoing Calls to Home Health Care
Patients
Robert Rosati, PhD, VNA Health Group
Sherl Brand, RN, BSN, VNA Health Group
Since late 2013, VNA Health Group has been
working with RelateCare a subsidiary of Rigney
Dolphin an Irish-based Contact Center provider.
RelateCare’s calling programs were developed
to reduce avoidable readmissions, manage
transitions of care and help lower healthcare
costs. For several years, RelateCare has had a
successful partnership with the Cleveland Clinic

BreakoutSessions
and looks to expand across the US and abroad.
This presentation will share VNA Health
Group’s experience working with RelateCare in
implementing the program and the impact on
patients. During 2014, RelateCare contacted
over 5,000 patients on select care deliver teams.
Since the calls were not made to all patients, VNA
Health Group was able to assess the impact of
the calls compared to a comparable group of
patients that did not receive calls. Comparisons
were made on patient satisfaction (HHCAPS)
and outcome measures (emergent care and
hospitalization).
The presentation includes three components.
First, background on RelateCare will be
presented, including information about their
model of patient engagement. Second, VNA
Health Group will share its experience working
with RelateCare and implementing the model
in its call center. Third, data will be presented
that shows significant improvements in patient
satisfaction and patient outcomes.
Finance | Chamber 4
Using “Scorecards” to Manage Revenue
Cycle Compliance
Aaron Little, CPA, BKD, LLP
Patrick Brown, Penn Home Care and Hospice Services
Today’s home health and hospice agencies are
challenged by payment reductions, shifting
payer mix, substantially increased Medicare
and Medicaid regulations, and heightened
program integrity activity. Providers must find
efficiencies and more effective ways of optimizing
revenue cycle performance while also managing
regulatory risks. This session will focus on one
provider’s initiative to assess compliance risks
in its revenue cycle and its implementation
of a compliance scorecard system to monitor
key compliance risks, measure key compliance
metrics, and manage personnel accountability,
processes and controls responsible for
compliance. The session will review how the
provider assessed its key controls and risk areas,
performance metrics for ongoing scorecard
reporting purposes, compliance weaknesses, and
performance accountability, as well as share tools
and strategies employed during the initiative and
the results to date.
Breakout Session Five
Wednesday, April 22 | 8:45 - 9:30 a.m.
Translating Evidence Based Practices
into Tangible Approaches in the Home to
Achieve Quality Care
Meg Doherty, MSN, ANP, MBA, Norwell VNA and
Hospice
Margaret “Peg” Terry, MSN, PhD, VNAA
The presentation will provide updates
to the Blueprint for Excellence for Home
health Transitions of Care and Hospice and
Palliative Care End of Life. The new work in
Clinical Conditions, Heart Failure (HF), Chronic
Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and
Hips and Knees will be discuss in detail. The
presenters will outline approaches to integrate
these practices in home care organizations
as well as approaches to measure these
approaches.
Hospice | Chamber 2
Preserving Patient’s Legacies through
Creative Collaborations
Nicole DePace, MS, APRN, GNP-BC, ACHPN, Norwell
VNA and Hospice
Judith Labossiere, RN, BSN, MBA, ACHCE, Norwell
VNA and Hospice
When faced with life-threatening or end-of-life
conditions, life review is a common response.
However, this can be a difficult process for
some and actually impact the emotional and

BreakoutSessions
spiritual well-being of some patients, both
negatively and positively. This workshop will
highlight a partnership program that offers
patients a positive, creative way to tell their
stories, impart wisdom for future generations,
and record the legacy that they wish to leave
for loved ones. Workshop participants will learn
about this unique program and its components,
how to access creative resources and begin the
process, and steps to implementation within a
hospice program. Case studies will be presented
to illustrate the process, program goals, and
successes.
Advancing Organizational Culture While
Capitalizing on Technology
Faith Scott, MPH, FACHE, VNA of Northern New Jersey
Lisa Salamone, MPA, VNA of Northern New Jersey
Brian Dwyer, HealthWyse, LLC
Strategic thinking has become a business
objective that is no longer optional. Planning for
operations, with limited resources, in advance of
hardship, may appear obvious to many leaders.
It has been proven that by shaping a vision for
business and outlining business metrics for each
division, leadership can move more nimbly and
with great accuracy. The result is an organization
that is integrated and responds to common
goals. During a time when internal and external
changes are the norm, it is critical to align the
organization with strong partners, talented
staff, and an unwavering strategic plan with
measurable outcomes.
This presentation will high a business / vendor
relationship that involved, against a few odds,
developing a strong partnership that led to a
reallocation of resources and an alteration in
product roadmap with the ultimate outcome of
a stronger resource for both. The Organization
will ultimately describe its vision, planning
methodology and guiding metrics. While the
vendor, will outline its decision-making process
to reallocate resources, and redefine its product
and strategic roadmaps; no small task.
Finance | Chamber 4
A Deep Dive into the Data Behind Hospital
Readmissions: Helping Agencies Reduce
Rates Further
Barbara Rosenblum, Strategic Healthcare Programs,
LLC
Christopher Attaya, MBA, FHFMA, Strategic
Healthcare Programs, LLC
The increased hospital penalties for 30-day
readmission rates are now in effect as of October
1, 2014, and about three-quarters of all hospitals
are impacted. Home health offers hospitals one
of the best strategies to reduce admissions, but
are we living up to the challenge? CMS provides
national data on the rates of rehospitalizations
by hospital and plans to start sharing 30 day
rehospitalizations rates of HHA’s sometime in
FY15. With the impacts to hospitals and a likely
HHA pay-for-performance measure, agencies
need to continually look at their performance
and understand the relationships of patient
characteristics and the utilization of services
provided to improve their scores. Using data
from the Strategic Healthcare Programs (SHP)
national database, we will share the data behind
hospital readmissions that will analyze these
different characteristics and agency profiles.
The data provided during this session will
help inform the audience characteristics and
elements of readmissions that can lead to better
performance.

BreakoutSessions
Breakout Session Six
Wednesday, April 22 | 9:45 - 10:30 a.m.
The IMPACT Act of 2014: Strategies for
Preparing for Change
Barbara Gage, PhD, MPA, Engelberg Center for Health
Care Reform, The Brookings Institute
Dr. Barbara Gage was the lead researcher in
the development of the Continuity Assessment
Record and Evaluation (CARE) Item Set (CARE
Tool), the precursor to the IMPACT Act. She
will provide the background and history of this
ACT and the far reaching consequences for
the post-acute sector including home health
agencies. She will provide an overview direction
of the incorporation of measures into the data
set of the post-acute providers of home health
(HH), skilled nursing facilities (SNF), Inpatient
rehabilitation facilities (IPR) and long term care
hospitals (LTCH). New directions for quality
measure development will be discussed. Dr.
Gage will also describe ways to prepare for these
changes including resources that are available.
Hospice | Chamber 2
The Rapid Intervention Clinical Model
for Acute Respiratory Symptoms: How
One Hospice Promotes a Plan of Care
to Identify and Intervene for Hospice
Patients at Risk for Hospitalization
Mary Ann Monaghan, MBA, RN, CPHQ, LHRM,
Chapters Health System
Literature and experience has determined that
specific psychosocial issues, risk factors and
symptoms act as triggers for hospice patients
and families to choose the hospital for evaluation
and treatment of acute symptoms. One of the
most frightening of these symptoms is shortness
of breath.
One of the primary goals of the Rapid
Intervention Clinical Model is to provide
hospice patients with the opportunity to obtain
prompt relief for acute respiratory symptoms.
The model’s focus on rapid symptom relief
accomplishes multiple goals:
• Emotional relief for loved ones and
emotional and physical relief for the hospice
patient;
• Quick treatment time under the care of the
hospice interdisciplinary team;
• Potential reduction in wait time for symptom
alleviation; and
• Reduction in emergency room visits for
healthcare facilities.
Engaging Strategic Partners in New
Models of Care
Patty Upham, RN, BS, FirstHealth of the Carolinas
Using The Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s
Triple Aim initiative as the underpinning for
project planning, FirstHealth has developed and
implemented the Chronic Disease Transitional
Care Model with very positive results. The
FirstHealth Model was developed, tested
and refined and includes a comprehensive
cross continuum approach, evidenced based
principles of care and a holistic patient centered
foundation. FirstHealth created chronic
disease pathways of care for heart failure,
COPD, diabetes, cardiac surgery and hip and
knee replacements. New models of care also
require new staff competencies. FirstHealth
developed specific on boarding competencies
and milestones for the first 12 months of
employment and ongoing annual competencies
for all clinical staff. Using the Chronic Disease
Transitional Care Model, FirstHealth created
Care Transition Services, three distinct services
that support the move to population health.
Home Health is evidenced based, pathway driven
care for patients that qualify. Hospitalization

BreakoutSessions
and emergent care results are now significantly
below the national benchmark. The Home
Health 30 day rehospitalization rate for 2014 is
8.8 percent, and the acute care hospitalization
rate is 17 percent. Complex Care Management
is pathway driven care for patients who do
not qualify for home health but who require
ongoing management and support. Complex
Care Management is provided for the high risk,
high utilizing uninsured and Medicaid population
and for the high risk members of FirstHealth’s
Medicare Advantage Plan. The FirstHealth Center
for Telehealth provides remote monitoring
across care settings under a $1,000,000 HRSA
Telehomecare Network Grant and includes
remote monitoring for Home Health, Complex
Care Management, the Community Care Network
of North Carolina and the North Carolina PACE
Program. Accordingly, this session will focus
on how one health care system designed and
implemented a comprehensive chronic disease
transitional care model, engaged key strategic
partners and positioned itself at the forefront of
new models of care.
Finance | Chamber 4
The VNAA Nonprofit Industry Research
Database: Progress Update
Jeanette May, MPH, PhD, VNAA
Christine Lang, National Research Corporation
During this session, Christine Lang from the
National Research Corporation along with VNAA
Project Management Specialist Jeanette May,
will provide an update on the VNAA’s Nonprofit
Industry Research Database. The faculty will
provide an over view of the database and key
attributes and the overall goals of the project.
Attendees will develop knowledge of the initiative
and gain awareness of potential data analyses
while receiving and update on the current
database size and benchmark report framework
and steps for VNAA members to become
involved in such an important project.
This continuing nursing education activity was
approved by the Maryland Nurses Association,
an accredited approver by the American Nurses
Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
How to Claim Your Credits
To receive credits for attendance of a
breakout session, the attendee must:
1. Sign in and out of the session on
the attendance sheet.
2. Attend the session from start to
finish.
3. Complete and submit the
evaluation at the end of the
session and turn into room
volunteer.
4. Receive certificate from room
volunteer onsite.
5. The licensee must retain the
certificate for a period of six (6)
years after completing the course.

Topic Track
Session 1
Tuesday, April 21
10:45 - 11:30 a.m.
Session 2
Tuesday April 21
2:00 - 2:45 p.m.
Session 3
Tuesday April 21
3:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Clinical
Operations
Chamber 1
VNA Health Group:
Transforming Transitional
Care Through Partnership
Teach Your Clinicians
to Document Superbly:
Documentation that
Avoids Regulatory and
Legal Risks
Weaving Health Literate
Care into Integrated Care
Management: Our Journey
Hospice
Chamber 2
Pharmaceutical Costs and
Hospice Care: Staying
Focused on the Patient,
Not the Cost
Creating a Culture of
Accountability: The Key to
Mind-Blowing Quality and
Profits
Hospice Documentation:
From Admission to ADR-
Proving Decline
Innovation and
Partnerships
Chamber 3
Managed Long Term Care,
New York State’s Solution
to Managing the Care of
Chronically Ill and Aging
Medicaid Recipients
Community and Acute
Care Partnership: An
Innovative Model for
Patient Management
Partnering with the ED:
A New Way to Reduce
Hospitalizations
Finance
Chamber 4
Pulling Back the Curtain:
Untapped Areas of ACA
Opportunity in your
Current Care Programs
Diversifying Revenue
Sources for Increased
Stability
Breakout Topic Tracks Sponsored by:

Session 4
Tuesday April 21
4:15 - 5:15 p.m.
Session 5
Wednesday, April 22
8:45 - 9:30 a.m.
Session 6
Wednesday, April 22
9:45 - 10:30 a.m.
Operational Challenges and
Solutions
Translating Evidence Based
Practices into Tangible
Approaches in the Home to
Achieve Quality Care
The IMPACT Act of 2014:
Preparing for Change
Building a Culture of Philanthropy
for Fundraising Success
Preserving Patients’ Legacies
through Creative Collaborations
The Rapid Intervention Clinical
Model for Acute Respiratory
Symptoms: How One Hospice
Promotes a Plan of Care to
Identify and Intervene for Hospice
Patients at Risk for Hospitalization
The Impact on Satisfaction and
Outcomes of Outgoing Calls to
Home Health Care Patients
Advancing Organizational Culture
While Capitalizing on Technology
Engaging Strategic Partners in
New Models of Care
Using “Scorecards” to Manage
Revenue Cycle Compliance
A Deep Dive into the Data Behind
Hospital Readmissions: Helping
Agencies Reduce Rates Further
The VNAA Nonprofit Industry
Research Database: Progress
Update
BreakoutTopicTracks

2015 NATIONAL AWARDS
National Award Winners | VNAA Annual Meeting 2014

2015 National Award Winners
The VNAA National Awards celebrate the unique qualities and contributions of individual leaders and staff
within nonprofit home health care and hospice. This year’s luncheon provides a perfect opportunity for every
organization and individual connected to the VNAA mission to come together and recognize the outstanding
contributions made by the award winners.
Outstanding Agency Leader
Norene Mostkoff | HCI Care Services and VNS of Iowa
Norene Mostkoff is President and CEO of HCI Care Services (formerly Hospice of Central Iowa)
and Visiting Nurse Services of Iowa (VNS of Iowa). The two non-profit organizations joined
forces in January 2012 to provide compassionate and effective community-based care to
thousands of children, families and older Iowans. A champion for others, Norene is making a
difference in her organization and community every day.She is a very deserving recipient of
the 2015 VNAA Outstanding Agency Leader Award.
Outstanding Clinician
Erin O’Rourke, RN | Ridgefield VNA
Erin O’Rourke, is a Case Manager at Ridgefield VNA. She has been a member of the team for
six years. Originally from a hospital environment, home care has been extremely rewarding
for Erin. And her patients do not know what they would do without her. A dedicated advocate
and exceptional caregiver, Erin embodies all of the best characteristics of a visiting nurse. She
has earned the 2015 VNAA Clinician of the Year Award.
Outstanding Innovation Leader
Adele Pike, RN | VNA Care Network Foundation & Subsidiaries
Adele Pike is Director, Center of Excellence and Education at VNA of Boston, a subsidiary of
the VNA Care Network Foundation. Since beginning her career 18 years ago as field nurse,
Adele has been on a constant quest to ensure the best care for patients. A creative
advocate, Adele is designing opportunities for the next generation of health providers and
ensuring exceptional patient care. She is a worthy recipient of the 2015 VNAA Outstanding
Innovation Leader Award.

Outstanding Public Policy Advocate
Kathy Keough | Atrius Health
Kathy Keough is the Government Relations Director for Atrius Health. Given the overall lack of
knowledge about the role of visiting nurses and home care providers, Kathy personally
educates congressmen, senators, and various foundations about their importance. An
outstanding advocate for physicians, nurses, patients, and families that are affected by today’s
home care policies, Kathy merits the 2015 VNAA Public Policy Advocate Award.
Outstanding Quality Team
Donna Peters | VNA Care Network Foundation & Subsidiaries
Bringing together members from different organizations is no easy feat. But the Quality
Assurance Team from the VNA of Boston and VNA Care Network, led by Donna Peters, proved
they were up to the challenge. The VNA Care Network has moved numerous Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services quality indicators to the top 20 percent. Encouraging
communication and learning from each other along the way, VNA of Boston’s Quality
Assurance Team exemplifies collaboration at its finest. They have earned the 2015 VNAA
Outstanding Quality Team Award.
Outstanding Volunteer
Mindy Minerva | VNA Health Group Foundation
Mindy Minerva has served as a trustee at the Visiting Nurse Association Health Group
Foundation since 2007. Mindy is committed to the VNA cause and strives to continually find
channels to help support their efforts. She worked closely with newly elected Dr. Landers on
the 2020 Vision Campaign and was critical in securing a $1 million dollar commitment from a
donor. Over the past several years Mindy has kept VNA her top priority, despite any
roadblocks or challenges she has encountered. She is a very laudable recipient of the 2015
VNAA Outstanding Volunteer Award.
2015NationalAwardWinners

Recreated Logo
2015 Sponsors and Partners
VNAA is proud to partner with the following corporations to support the work of mission driven, non-
profit home health and hospice agencies. If you’re interested in partnering with VNAA, please speak with
Taney Hamill, Vice President of Membership Development, or visit the Corporate Partners page on our
website at vnaa.org/cpp.
PROFESSIONAL FORMULA
STRATEGIC HEALTHCARE PROGRAMS

EXHIBIT HALL
VNAA Exhibit Hall | VNAA Annual Meeting 2013

The Exhibit Program at VNAA’s 33rd Annual
Meeting will offer members an opportunity
interact with some of the best-known companies
serving the home healthcare and hospice
industry today, as well as new companies
shaping the future. These companies will be
highlighting their latest, most innovative products
and services designed to help VNAA members
provide their patients with quality care and make
their agencies more efficient.
Exhibitors and sponsors are some of the most
important participants at the VNAA Annual
Meeting. Not only does the Exhibit Hall provide all
of the latest industry information, products and
services, but the support received from these
exhibitors and sponsors also helps significantly
reduce the cost of attendee registration.
Please make sure you take full advantage
of everything the Exhibit Hall has to offer by
prospecting for new vendors, catching up with
current business partners and watching live
demonstrations of the latest products.
Exhibit Hall Schedule
Tuesday, April 21
Exhibit Hall Bingo
Each attendee will receive a Bingo Card in their
tote bag at registration. On the Bingo Card will
be 25 squares. Each of the squares represents
an exhibitor, or group or individual for you to
connect with while you are here in New Orleans.
Once you make a connection with the group or
individual in each box, ask them for one of their
stickers to place in that square. Once the card
is complete, place your Bingo Card in the drum
at the VNAA Purchase Clinic Program Booth.
Winners will be announced during the Exhibit
Hall Reception Tuesday evening.
Prizes
2 FitBit Bands
2 $100 American Express Gift Cards
1 iPad Mini
1 Sonos Play 3 Bundle
Note: Only one prize per attendee. VNAA staff,
exhibitors and sponsors are not eligible for
participation.
Exhibit Hall Schedule
Opening Luncheon
sponsored by
Exhibit Hall Cocktail
12:00 – 2:00 p.m.
Exhibit Hall Cocktail

Booth Listing
Booth 100
Mutual of America
Booth 101
McKesson Medical-Surgical
2015 Partner
McKesson Medical-Surgical offers more products,
business management tools, distribution services,
clinical support and education to home health
agencies than other medical supply distributors.
By working together, we can help you reduce
costs and save time so you can focus on providing
more patient care. Get more and do more with
McKesson Medical-Surgical.
mms.mckesson.com
Booth 102
McKesson Connected Care & Analytics
Booth 103
Quality In Real Time
Booth 104
Five Star Consultants LLC
Booth 105
Forcura
Booth 106
Pfizer
Booth 107
Healogram
Booth 108
The Joint Commission
2015 Partner
Joint Commission accreditation has become the
industry’s most widely recognized quality distinction,
helping home health, hospice and personal care
providers distinguish themselves in the markets they
serve. Our process and standards have become the
“play book” for many to running an efficient, patient-
centered organization. For growing organizations
accreditation can provide the framework to help
ensure more consistent delivery of care.
www.jointcommission.org
Booth 109
CellTrak

Booth 110
UST
Booth 111
Optimal Phone Interpreters
Booth 112
Retractable Technologies
Booth 113
Smith Medical Partners
2015 Partner
Smith Medical Partners is equipped to supply a
full range of practices with both broad and limited
products. A specialty company of H. D. Smith, we
expertly manage the unique supply chain logistics
of vaccines and specialty items. Combining national
reach with accessible service, Smith Medical
Partners is a complete distribution solution.
www.smpspecialty.com
Booth 114
Wolters Kluwer
Booth 115
BKD
2015 Partner
BKD, LLP provides financial statement audit, tax,
accounting outsourcing, cost-report preparation,
operations consulting, third-party billing, and
compliance consulting to approximately 250 home
care & hospice clients.
www.bkd.com
Booth 116
Delta Health Technologies
2015 Partner
Delta Health Technologies’ innovative, patient-centric
software solution provides end-to-end coverage
for all the needs of home health, hospice and
private duty providers. From clinical point-of-care
to scheduling, billing and regulatory compliance;
our software provides accurate and real-time
visibility into what it takes to run your business more
profitability. | www.deltahealthtech.com
Booth 117
Covidien
2015 Partner
Covidien is a world class manufacturer of medical
supplies. The comprehensive portfolio of products
offered by Covidien serves the home care needs of
patients and providers alike. A specialized, highly
trained home care sales force is dedicated to
supporting the needs of customers who provide for
individuals in the home.
www.covidien.com
BoothListing

Booth 118
SHP
2015 Partner
Strategic Healthcare Programs (SHP), a leader
in healthcare data analytics and benchmarking,
provides real-time, actionable performance
metrics that drive daily decisions. Using a dynamic
dashboard that integrates data from all venues of
post-acute care, customers view key performance
metrics and alerts that proactively help improve
clinical outcomes, protect payment, increase
customer satisfaction, and comply with regulations.
www.shpdata.com
Booth 119
DecisionHealth
Booth 120
Woodrow Healthcare Consulting
Booth 121
Ferris Mfg Corp
2015 Partner
Manufactured in the USA by Ferris Mfg. Corp.
PolyMem is a unique multifunctional dressing
specifically designed to reduce a patient’s total
wound pain experience, while actively encouraging
healing. All PolyMem dressings effectively cleanse,
fill, absorb and moisten wounds throughout the
healing continuum, standardizing care and utilizing
fewer dressings to healing.
www.polymem.com
Booth 122
Computerized Screening, Inc.
Booth 200
McBee Associates
Booth 201
VNAA Purchase Clinic Program
2015 Partner
VNAA Purchase Clinic Program is an added member
benefit offered to VNAA members. The program
offers substantial savings through an online contract
marketplace utilizing the MedAssets contract
portfolio, and includes staff support to translate
the value of the portfolio into realized member
savings. This technology platform allows for rapid
supplier connection and contract access.
www.vnaa.org/purchaseclinic
Booth 202
Vaxserve
Booth 203
Masimo
BoothListing

Booth 204
Philips Lifeline
2015 Partner
Part of Philips Home Healthcare Solutions, Philips
Lifeline is the leading medical alert service, providing
seniors and their caregivers the confidence and
peace of mind to continue to live independently in
their own homes. Philips Lifeline provides 24-
hour medical alert services to more than 700,000
subscribers in North America.
www.lifelinesys.com
Booth 205
BlackTree Healthcare Consulting
Booth 206
Leading Home Care... a Tweed Jeffries
Company
Booth 207
Time Warner Cable Business Class
Booth 208
Allscripts, Inc.
Booth 209
MedScope America Corp.
Booth 210
PPS Plus Software
Booth 211
Transpirus
Booth 212
Cambridge Security Services
Booth 213
Make People Better
Booth 215
OCS HomeCare by National Research
Corporation
Booth 216
Home Health Gold
Booth 217
Exact Recruiting
BoothListing

Booth 218
Byram Healthcare
2015 Partner
Byram Healthcare is a comprehensive provider of
patient supply management and transition of care
solutions. Our patient direct supply and clinical
support programs enable an agency to maximize
clinician’s productivity while supporting your patients
medical supply needs both on service and upon
discharge.
www.byramhealthcare.com
Booth 219
Avant Healthcare Professionals
Booth 220
CHAP
2015 Partner
CHAP is an independent, nonprofit accrediting
body for home and community-based health care
organizations. We are people who care on a mission
to lead and to serve. We accredit a variety of home
and community-based health care organizations
that make high-quality care a programmatic and
business priority. Through “deeming authority”
granted by CMS, we also have the regulatory
authority to survey agencies providing home health,
hospice and home medical equipment to determine
if they meet the Medicare Conditions of Participation
and CMS Quality Standards. We know more
about home and community-based health care
accreditation than anyone in the industry. It’s not
part of what we do; it’s all we do. When the business
of care gets better, the care of people gets better.
www.chapinc.org
Booth 221
Cardiocom
2015 Partner
Cardiocom®, Experts in TelehealthSM, is a proven
leader in Integrated Clinical Telehealth Services.
Cardiocom is a world-class developer, manufacturer
and clinical telehealth solutions provider.
Cardiocom’s innovative home telemonitoring
equipment and telehealth services enable health
professionals to identify symptomatic patients
and intervene early to prevent unnecessary
hospitalizations. Cardiocom addresses Heart
Failure, COPD, Asthma, Diabetes, Hypertension,
Obesity and other complex conditions.
www.cardiocom.com
Booth 300
The Corridor Group
Booth 301
Homecare Homebase
Booth 302
Fazzi Associates
Booth 303
PassportUSA
Booth 304
Home Healthcare Solutions
BoothListing

Booth 305
Honeywell Life Care Solutions
Booth 306
Innovacyn, Inc.
2015 Partner
Puracyn Plus Wound Irrigation Professional Formula
is a next-generation wound cleanser designed
to improve the most essential part of the wound
treatment process – preparation of the wound bed.
Compatible with the natural hypochlorous produced
in the body, Puracyn Plus is as safe as it is powerful.
www.innovacyn.com
Booth 307
Suture Health, Inc.
Booth 308
Carewatch Inc.
Booth 309
Healthcare Recovery Solutions
Booth 310
Amramp
Booth 311
PlayMaker CRM
Booth 312
TZMO USA Inc.
Booth 313
Healthcare Market Resources
Booth 314
Axxess
2015 Partner
Axxess is a leading provider of software and
consulting services to the home health care
industry. Axxess’ flagship AgencyCore® Home
Health Software is a complete, user-friendly and
fully integrated solution that empowers home
health agencies by helping them increase revenue,
decrease cost, improve compliance and productivity.
www.axxess.com
Booth 315
ProCare HospiceCare
Booth 316
Axxess
Booth 318
Selman-Holman & Associates, LLC
Booth 319
Healthcare Provider Solutions, Inc.
BoothListing

Booth 320
DeVero, Inc.
Booth 321
HealthWyse
2015 Partner
Since 1998 HealthWyse has delivered EMR software
exclusively to home health, hospice and private duty
providers. The compliance-driven EMR empowers
agencies to improve their financial and clinical
performance beginning with HealthWyse Mobile, the
industry’s first cross-platform point of care solution
to work natively on Android, iPad and Windows
devices.
www.healthwyse.com
Booth 400
Accreditation Commission for Health Care
Booth 402
Runzheimer International
Booth 404
AMC Health
Booth 406
The van Halem Group
Booth 410
Select Data
2015 Partner
Select Data provides Coding, OASIS Review, Auditing,
and Revenue Management Services to Home
Health and Hospice agencies. With over 20 years of
experience, Select Data is uniquely qualified to assist
your agency in turning operational challenges into
revenue generating opportunities.
www.selectdata.com
Booth 412
Accreditation Commission for Health Care
Booth 414
Willis/Smith, Bell & Thompson
Booth 416
Vitaphone e-Health Solutions
Booth 418
Advanced-Telehealth Solutions
BoothListing

6’x30”
Booth Map

Attendee Information
Event Admittance
• Full registrants may attend all events and sessions,
except pre-conferences.
• Exhibitors may attend all Exhibit Hall sessions,
the Welcome Reception, the Opening and Closing
Plenary Sessions and the National Awards
Ceremony. Exhibitors must purchase an education
pass to attend the educational breakout sessions
• Daily registrants may attend all events and
sessions only on the day for which they registered.
• Non-registered speakers may only attend their
presentation session.
• The pre-conference programs are open to all but
there is an additional fee per pre-conference.
The cost of these sessions is not included in
the conference registration fee. Please stop by
the VNAA registration if you are interested in
registering for one of these events.
• Interest Group Meetings and the Joint Council
Meeting Forum are open to all VNAA Affiliate
Members.
Note: Alcohol is served at several of these functions;
please consumer responsibly. The VNAA and its
agents are not responsible for injury or mishap due to
overindulgence.
Name Badges
Your name badge is your admission ticket to all VNAA
Annual Meeting sessions and events; please wear it at
all times during the conference. Name badges will be
strictly monitored for all sessions and admittance will
be restricted to attendees with the proper credentials.
If you lose your name badge, please inform a VNAA staff
member in the registration area.
What to Wear
Suggested dress for the Annual Meeting is business
casual. Please be aware that the meeting rooms vary
in temperature. For your comfort, we recommend
dressing in layers and keeping a sweater or jacket
nearby. The average temperature for late April in New
Orleans is degrees 78F and rain is to be expected (High
78 degrees F, low 59 degrees).
Photography Release
Individuals attending the VNAA Annual Meeting may
be photographed by VNAA staff members or others
involved with the meeting. These photographs may
appear without compensation in VNAA-produced
collateral or on the VNAA Website. If you do not want
your photograph to appear in any VNAA publication,
please notify the VNAA at regevent@vnaa.org or speak
to a staff member at the VNAA Registration Desk.

Upcoming Events in 2015
M I D W E S T
LEADERSHIP SUMMIT
C I N C I N N A T I
JUNE 17-18
Midwest Leadership Summit
June 17-18, 2015 | Cincinnati, Ohio
vnaa.org/leadershipsummits
Public Policy Leadership Conference
Sept. 16-17, 2015 | Washington, D.C.
vnaa.org/pplc
PUBLIC POLICY
LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
W A S H I N G T O N , D C
SEPT. 16-17
M I A M I
AnnualMeeting
A P R I L 6 - 8 , 2 0 1 6
F I N A N C I A L
L E A D E R S S U M M I T
B O S T O N
NOVEMBER 1
Financial Leaders Summit
Nov. 1, 2015 | Boston, Mass.
vnaa.org/leadershipsummits
2016 Annual Meeting
April 6-8, 2016 | Miami, Fla.
vnaa.org/vnaa-2016

Acknowledgments
VNAA would like to thank the following member volunteers for their generous donation of time,
expertise and effort. Their contributions are vital to the success of the Annual Meeting.
VNAA Annual Meeting Committee
VNAA National Awards Committee
VNAA Annual Meeting Volunteers
Rhonda Combs
Christiana Care VNA
New Castle, DE
Chair
Paul Giles
Dignity Health
Yorba Linda, CA
Christy Mesik
VNA Corporation
Kansas City, MO
Ann Painter
VNA of Somerset Hills
Basking Ridge, NJ
Marie Sperber
Basking Ridge, NJ
Lucy Saia
Home Health and Hospice Care
Merrimack, NH
Barbara Szewczyk
Christiana Care VNA
New Castle, DE
Celeste Twardon
Home Nursing Agency and VNA
Altoona, PA
Theresa Santoro
Ridgefield VNA
Ridgefield, CT
Chair
Judy Adamcsik
Basking Ridge, NJ
Johann Becker
Wellspan VNA Home Care
York, PA
George Bielke
VNA of Tulsa
Tulsa, OK
Janine Fay
VNA Community Healthcare
Guilford, CT
Kim Hall
Advanced Homecare
High Point, NC
Mary Linn Hamilton
VNA of Treasure Coast
Vero Beach, FL
Carol Kanarek
VNA of Treasure Coast
Vero Beach, FL
Judith Labossiere
Norwell VNA and Hospice
Norwell, MA
Anne Major
Knute Nelson Home Care and Hospice
Alexandria, MN
Kathy Peirce
VNA of Care New England
Warwick, RI
Colleen Sailer
In Home Care VNA
Princeton, IL
Jill Schultz
Covenant VNA
Saginaw, MI
Rita Truex
Basking Ridge, NJ
Emilie M. Deady, RN, MSN, MGA
Washington, DC

Board of Directors
VNAA Board of Directors and Staff
Sarah Bogdan
Legislative Affairs Director
Heather Corbin
Senior Manager of Education
Hank Daugherty
Manager of Marketing and
Communications
Leah Dawson
Manager of Member Relations
Ashley Durkin
Communications Director
Eileen Grande
External Affairs Director
C. Taney Hamill
VP of Membership and Business
Development
Tracey Moorhead
President and CEO
Sandy Nguyen
Accountant/Controller
Rebecca Schmitt
Senior Project Associate and Business
Services Manager
Molly Smith
VP of Public Policy and Regulatory
Affairs
Peg Terry
VP of Quality and Innovation
Mary DeVeau, RN, MSM
Chair
President and CEO
Concord Regional VNA
Concord, NH
Mark Oshnock
Treasurer
President and CEO
Visiting Nurse Health Systemf
Atlanta, GA
Joseph Scopelliti, Jr., MBA
Secretary
President and CEO
VNA Health System
Shamokin, PA
Katherine Browne
Deputy Director and COO
Center for Health Care Quality
George Washington University
Washington, DC
Esther Emard, RN, MSN, MSLIR
Instructor
The George Washington University
School of Nursing
Gary Jacobs
Managing Director
Health Industries Advisory
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Tracey Moorhead
President and CEO
VNAA
Arlington, VA
Norene Mostkoff
President and CEO
HCI-VNS Care Services
West Des Moines, IA
Faith Scott
President and CEO
VNA of Northern New Jersey
Morristown, NJ
Timothy Veach
QA/Compliance Officer
Intermountain Homecare
Salt Lake City, UT
Staff

Notes

ANNU
AL MEETING
2015
N
EW ORLEAN
S

Event Guide: 2015 VNAA Annual Meeting

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