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Agenda & Sessions

Conference Schedule & Educational Sessions

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Dan Docherty, Day 1 Keynote

“NeuroCoaching: The Science Behind World-Class Leaders”

President and Chief Coaching Officer at Braintrust | Leadership Professor at Miami University |  Assistant Director, Isaac and Oxley Center for Business Leadership

Dan has found a true passion for creating world-class communicators that make a positive difference in the world around them. His goal was to create a sustainable system for leadership-coaching, which led to a commitment to the co-creation of NeuroCoaching. Dr. Dan, as he is known to colleagues and students, has coached thousands of leaders in management positions around the world, all while continuing to pour into the lives and futures of students at Miami University in Oxford, OH. From the world-renowned mentors of his doctorate program to the wisdom shared by his small-town high school music teacher, Dan knows firsthand just how formative good leadership-coaching is to the individual, thus leading to stronger organizations, communities, and families. Read more about Dan at braintrustgrowth.com

Katie Wehri, Day 2 Keynote

“Home Care & Hospice National Update”

Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, Quality & Compliance, NAHC-NHPCO Alliance

Katie Wehri has over 30 years of experience in hospice and home health, holding several executive-level positions. She has extensive and direct knowledge of industry operations, regulation, accreditation standards, interpretation and compliance, quality assessment, and performance improvement programming and compliance programs. She consulted nationally with hospices and home health agencies assisting them with all aspects of operations and compliance. Katie speaks nationally on these issues and provides education to hospice and home health providers. As the Vice President for Regulatory Affairs, Quality and Compliance for the National Association for Home Care and Hospice (NAHC) she communicates with regulators on hospice and home health issues and policy.

Tuesday, September 24

7:30 am:  Registration, Breakfast, Trade Show Networking

8:30 – 8:45:  Walk to COSI for Opening & Keynote

8:45 – 9:00:  Welcome and Introduction

9:00 – 10:00:  Keynote by Dan Docherty, PhD, Chief Coaching Officer, Braintrust

10:00 – 10:30:  Return to The Junto for Breakout Sessions

10:30 am – 12:00 pm:  Breakouts 1  |  Jump to Details

12:00 – 1:30:  Networking Lunch

1:30 – 3:00:  Breakouts 2  |  Jump to Details

3:00 – 3:15  Break

3:15 – 4:45:  Breakouts 3  |  Jump to Details

5:00: Networking Reception at The Brass Eye Rooftop Bar (on-site), with special guest Cardale Jones, Co-Founder & General Manager of THE Foundation, and championship-winning Quarterback with The Ohio State Buckeyes

Wednesday, September 25

8:00 am:  Breakfast

8:45 – 10:00:  Trade Show Networking

10:00:  Walk to COSI for Keynote & Luncheon

10:15 – 11:15: Keynote by Katie Wehri, VP of Regulatory Affairs, Quality & Compliance , NAHC-NHPCO Alliance

11:15 – 11:30:  Break

11:30 am – 1:30 pm:  Awards Luncheon at COSI

1:30 – 1:45:  Return to The Junto for Breakout Sessions

1:45 – 3:15:  Breakouts 4  |  Jump to Details

3:15 – 3:30:  Break

3:30 – 5:00:  Breakouts 5  |  Jump to Details

5:00:  Conference Adjourns

Participating in conference Breakout Sessions will provide 1.5 Nursing Contact Hours to attendees. Keynote Sessions provide 1 Nursing Contact Hour. Continuing Education credits for other professional disciplines, such as PT/OT, are pending. To be eligible for Contact Hours, attendees must not miss more than 10 minutes of a session.

“Statehouse Tours & Advocacy 101” sessions are eligible for 0.5 Contact Hours. “Education on the Move” sessions are not eligible for Contact Hours.

Breakout Session rooms do have capacity limits and certain topics may fill up before others.

Simply amazing educational & networking opportunities await!

Breakouts 1

Day 1, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm

Session 1 – Maintaining a Leadership Compass: Navigating Professional Boundaries in Healthcare at Home Leaders. Setting sail through the sometimes-turbulent waters of healthcare-at-home, leaders function as skilled captains of compassion and professionalism. Effective boundary setting for leaders’ safeguards against hazards and mitigates the risks for professional relationships, ensuring smooth sailing in those challenging waters. Join us as we explore the importance of leadership boundaries and identify those actions that put us at risk of running aground as well as identifying strategies that can guide us like a lighthouse in the dark to protect leaders, teams, the agency, and patients and families.

  • Katherine Morrison, MSN, RN, CHPN, CCS-HH, Director, Hospice Consulting Operations, WellSky
  • Jessica Iorio, MPH, CEHCH, CDP, Hospice Director, The LTM Group

Session 2 – The New World of Home Health Surveys in 2024:  Focus on CMS State Operations Manual Appendix B Updates. More than ever, home health leaders need to understand the importance of key survey readiness priorities to avoid CMS survey citations, survey enforcement remedies and ensure regulatory compliance. This interactive session focuses on the top home health survey deficiencies in 2024, recent updates to CMS State Operations Manual Appendix B including survey process and standards changes that will shape surveys for years to come. Specific strategies home health agencies can implement to demonstrate agency-wide compliance will be discussed.

  • Lisa Goodlow, Director, Accreditation, CHAP

Session 3 – Hiking Down the Audit Response Trail:  Responding to Hospice Audit Requests and Appeals. This presentation will discuss many of the audits facing hospices today. Best practices for audit responses will be discussed along with responding to the five levels of appeals for hospices. Finally, strategies for documentation best practices will be shared.

Session 4 – Education on the Move Tour. Take an educational tour through three interactive rooms to learn about the latest innovations in clinical care, value-based care, and technology to support your agency’s best practices! This experience will allow you to interact in small groups and learn more about innovation in our industry. The Tour features 3 rooms, with groups of 10 attendees rotating every 30 minutes. Each session is identical – please sign up for only one time slot.

Session 5 – State Capital Tour & Advocacy 101:  Learn How to Testify in Front of The Legislature (offsite via shuttle bus, includes offsite lunch after tour). This unique breakout session will take you to the Ohio Statehouse, guided by museum staff and the Hicks Partners team who will highlight specific items such as hearing rooms, testimony, and direct engagement with legislators/staff. You will learn a brief history of the Ohio Statehouse and general education of state government, the legislative process and how a bill becomes a law, and how effective advocacy & lobbying impacts public policy, state regulation and funding. The historic Ohio Statehouse is the seat of Ohio’s state government and is a magnificent monument to the people and the period during which Ohio’s democracy was founded and formed. The building provides the meeting places of the Ohio House of Representatives and Ohio Senate as well as working government offices. It is a wonderful example of Greek Revival architecture and includes art and historic artifacts on display. Additionally, if your schedules permit you may also visit the Statehouse Museum as well as the Museum Gift Shop. This experience is limited to 20 attendees at a time. Each tour will be identical so please only sign up for one to allow others to attend.

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Breakouts 2

Day 1, 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm

Session 6 – Strategies to Combat Workplace Violence in the Home Care Setting. Cleveland Clinic Center for Connected Care (CCC) leadership identified that caregivers needed a platform for sharing and reporting safety concerns. The foundation for this stage was initiated through the development of a Workplace Violence (WPV) Committee. Despite the lack of a regulatory requirement, leadership recognized the opportunity and swiftly formed a committee. The committee is multidisciplinary and is co-led by Quality and Human Resources. Through the work of the WPV committee, in one year, CCC increased reporting by over 100%. Furthermore, we implemented many interventions to protect our caregivers, also called the WPV toolkit. The WPV toolkit includes a caregiver/patient partnership pledge, scheduling notifications, virtual emergency notifications, identification signs for caregiver cars, de-escalation training and scripting, policy and procedure revision, administrator on-call, and the implementation of a mobile panic device. The most recent intervention, the mobile panic device was initiated in 2023. Over the year, CCC leaders and Cleveland Clinic Police collaborated to review emergency management vendors. The objective would be to identify a device that would allow caregivers to notify and dispatch 911 services to their current location without picking up their phone. 911Cellular was the vendor of choice. It allows caregivers to wear a panic alarm discreetly, and when triggered, it dispatches the police directly to the caregiver’s location. After a successful pilot, CCC started to issue panic devices to all field-based caregivers. By year end of 2024 there will be over four hundred and fifty devices distributed. Future state includes increased follow-up resources, standardized post WPV event debriefs and ongoing education. As a part of our commitment to caregiver safety, we have partnered with Cleveland Clinic enterprise as well as national partners at National Association for Home Care & Hospice, (NAHC) to share resources and best practices.

Session 7 – Empowering Home Health Clinicians:  Leveraging Advance Care Planning for Optimal Performance in HHVBP. As the contemporary Japanese writer Haruki Murakami noted: “Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it.” Often battling our instincts to help patients get better, informed, and competent advocacy for both home health patients and agencies is made stronger when advance care planning conversation becomes a core competency. This session will provide advance care planning conversation skills and their importance within person-centered, value-based home health. Sharing leaders’ direct experiences in improving advance care planning conversations, and their aligned use of prognostic tools, we will discuss how teams have helped the people they serve to navigate complexities of illness or face end of life decisions. From case conference processes to embedded, focused education, we will share how agencies have achieved better HHVBP performance, from lowering hospitalization and improving satisfaction to yielding an efficient, effective transition of care between home health, advanced illness management, palliative care, and hospice.

  • Cindy Campbell, MHA, BSN, RN, CCS-HH, Senior Director Advisory Services, WellSky
  • Katherine Morrison, MSN, RN, CHPN, CCS-HH, Director, Hospice Consulting Operations, WellSky

Session 8 – Exploring Why African Americans Tend Not to Use End-of-Life Hospice Care. This presentation explores the underutilization of hospice care among African Americans, focusing on cultural, systemic, and healthcare provider-related factors. It highlights cultural beliefs, religious practices, and family dynamics that shape attitudes towards end-of-life care. Systemic barriers, including socioeconomic disparities, healthcare inequities, and historical mistrust of the medical system, are examined. The presentation also addresses the impact of implicit biases among healthcare providers and the importance of culturally sensitive communication. Strategies for community engagement, collaborative care planning, and advocacy are discussed to promote awareness and acceptance of hospice care in African American communities. The goal is to foster cultural competence, improve patient outcomes, and support initiatives that enhance healthcare equity and access to quality end-of-life care.

Session 9 – Education on the Move Tour. Take an educational tour through three interactive rooms to learn about the latest innovations in clinical care, value-based care, and technology to support your agency’s best practices! This experience will allow you to interact in small groups and learn more about innovation in our industry. The Tour features 3 rooms, with groups of 10 attendees rotating every 30 minutes. Each session is identical – please sign up for only one time slot.

Session 10 – State Capital Tour & Advocacy 101:  Learn How to Testify in Front of The Legislature (offsite via shuttle bus, includes offsite lunch before tour). This unique breakout session will take you to the Ohio Statehouse, guided by museum staff and the Hicks Partners team who will highlight specific items such as hearing rooms, testimony, and direct engagement with legislators/staff. You will learn a brief history of the Ohio Statehouse and general education of state government, the legislative process and how a bill becomes a law, and how effective advocacy & lobbying impacts public policy, state regulation and funding. The historic Ohio Statehouse is the seat of Ohio’s state government and is a magnificent monument to the people and the period during which Ohio’s democracy was founded and formed. The building provides the meeting places of the Ohio House of Representatives and Ohio Senate as well as working government offices. It is a wonderful example of Greek Revival architecture and includes art and historic artifacts on display. Additionally, if your schedules permit you may also visit the Statehouse Museum as well as the Museum Gift Shop. This experience is limited to 20 attendees at a time. Each tour will be identical so please only sign up for one to allow others to attend.

↑ back to top |  see speaker bios →

Breakouts 3

Day 1, 3:15 pm – 4:45 pm

Session 11 – Producing Single-digit Readmissions in Home Health. Volume to Value (V2V) reforms have rewired the Home Health model in terms of care development and delivery since the introduction of PDGM. Earlier this year, Value-based Purchasing was installed for Home Health, connecting payment levels to outcomes for the first time in our industry. A review of the requirements for the VBP bonus reveals outcomes rarely seen to date in HHCAPS, Readmission, Timeliness, and Clinical Outcomes. HH Readmissions must be in the single-digits if a Provider hopes to qualify for the VBP bonus, and most Providers post readmit levels in the mid-teens. This session will review agencies who have posted single-digit readmits under PDGM to identify best-practices that reduce readmissions to single-digits. Case studies will outline how to start on the path to single-digit readmissions in your agency.

Session 12 – 2024 CMS Hospice Special Focus Program (SFP) Updates. As the largest reimbursement source for hospice care, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) has tremendous interest in assuring that hospice providers are providing high quality, efficient, and effective patient care. One of the tools in CMS’ toolbox is the CMS Hospice Special Focus Program. Please join us as we review the market and regulatory pressures leading to the creation of the Hospice Special Focus Program. We’ll then discuss the issues that the program hopes to address. Finally, let’s look at some strategies to help hospice providers successfully complete the program.

Session 13 – Employment Law Update. Are you ready to stay ahead of the curve in human resources for your healthcare employees? Join us for an exclusive presentation where we delve into the major updates transforming the HR landscape: New Fair Labor Standards Act Changes for Exempt Employees, Federal Trade Commission’s Nationwide Ban on Non-Competes, Marijuana Legalization in Ohio and How it Impacts Ohio Employers, Changes in federal enforcement of Discrimination and Harassment Laws, and Changes to Workplace Accommodation Requirements. Discover how these groundbreaking changes will impact your organization and what you need to do to ensure compliance. This is a must-attend event for healthcare employers looking to protect their companies and support their employees.

Session 14 – Optimizing Your Operations in the New Ohio EVV Landscape. In light of the recent Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) program updates implemented on July 1st, 2024, we understand home healthcare providers are navigating new operational requirements. This session will provide a comprehensive overview of the latest EVV landscape, including a review of the implemented changes and their impact, key compliance considerations to ensure ongoing program adherence, the latest program updates since the initial rollout, and real-world troubleshooting scenarios to equip your team with actionable solutions. Empower your team to thrive in the evolving EVV environment.

Session 15 – Education on the Move Tour. Take an educational tour through three interactive rooms to learn about the latest innovations in clinical care, value-based care, and technology to support your agency’s best practices! This experience will allow you to interact in small groups and learn more about innovation in our industry. The Tour features 3 rooms, with groups of 10 attendees rotating every 30 minutes. Each session is identical – please sign up for only one time slot.

↑ back to top |  see speaker bios →

Breakouts 4

Day 2, 1:45 pm – 3:15 pm

Session 16 – Impactful Leadership for Home Health Care Organizations. Leadership plays a crucial role in shaping and influencing an organization. Effective leadership has a significant impact on various aspects of an organization, including its culture, performance, and overall success. In this course, we will cover all the aspects of adopting and executing strong leadership, while setting a powerful example for training future leaders within the organization as well.

Session 17 – Home Health RCD Focus. The Review Choice Demonstration (RCD) has officially been approved to continue past the original demonstration end date of 05/31/2024. This session will detail review the current status of RCD, share experiences from pre-claim review and discuss some of the prevalent processes within your agency that may need to be tweaked. We will navigate through the TOUGH topic of Face-to-Face encounters and the coding of the primary reason for home care that is causing so many issues. This session will review success stories as well.

Session 18 – HOPE is on the way! The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has developed a patient assessment tool to replace the Hospice Item Set (HIS) and enhance hospice quality reporting. Unlike the HIS, which only collects data at admission and discharge, this tool will gather comprehensive, real-time information on hospice patients’ clinical, psychosocial, spiritual, and emotional needs throughout their stay. CMS has proposed two initial quality measures focused on timely reassessment of pain and non-pain symptoms, with plans for additional measures as more data is collected. Importantly, the tool’s development involved extensive engagement with hospice providers to ensure it meets their needs. By understanding this new hospice assessment tool’s key features and objectives, leaders can prepare for its implementation and leverage the data to drive continuous quality improvement efforts that enhance the end-of-life experience.

  • Sara Nigro, Director of Channel Partnerships, BetterRX
  • Courtney Tonks, Director of Nursing, BetterRX

Session 19 – Education on the Move Tour. Take an educational tour through three interactive rooms to learn about the latest innovations in clinical care, value-based care, and technology to support your agency’s best practices! This experience will allow you to interact in small groups and learn more about innovation in our industry. The Tour features 3 rooms, with groups of 10 attendees rotating every 30 minutes. Each session is identical – please sign up for only one time slot.

Session 20 – AI in Healthcare – The Intersection of Employment Law and Healthcare Compliance Regulations. One of the hottest topics in healthcare is the explosion of artificial intelligence (AI) resources and how they affect the healthcare workplace. Please join us as we discuss how AI affects healthcare organizations from both the perspective of employer and the perspective of provider. We’ll start with the basics – What is AI? Then we’ll discuss what issues are triggered by AI under current employment laws, as well as healthcare compliance regulations. Finally, we’ll wrap up with some strategies to promote responsible use of AI in the healthcare workplace and how to maintain compliance with applicable employment and healthcare compliance laws and regulations.

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Breakouts 5

Day 2, 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm

Session 21 – Looking Into CMS’ Crystal Ball: Tying GG Items, Quality Measure and VBP to a Goal of Unified PAC Payment. A 2022 Report to Congress outlined a prototype Unified Post-Acute Care prospective payment system. This glimpse into the report will outline the importance of data accuracy for current and future state Quality Metrics, VBP, and payment as Home Health Care measures continue to be aligned with other post-acute care settings’ measures. This session will outline plans for continued standardization of data elements such as OASIS GG Items, as well as management of Medicare spending per beneficiary – topics that have continued to make headlines since 2014’s IMPACT Act became law.

Session 22 – Ohio Medicaid Update for Home Care and Hospice Providers. During this presentation, the speaker will share Ohio Medicaid updates relevant to Ohio home care and hospice providers that will inform the way providers do business and provide services to their patients and clients. Attendees will understand updates to Medicaid reimbursement for home care and hospice services, changes to the EVV policy and process required by Ohio Medicaid, and other Ohio Medicaid-related policy and reimbursement changes, including updates on the Next Gen Medicaid managed care program.

Session 23 – Hospice Final Rule. The Hospice Final Payment Rule and Quality Updates Effective October 1, 2025. The Hospice Final Rule Updates the Payment Rates, Wage Index and Quality Reporting Requirements among other things. This webinar will prepare hospices for regulatory updates, define the rate changes for all levels of hospice care, and provide a review of the Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP) Requirements with updates to the Hospice Outcomes and Patient Evaluation (HOPE) assessment tool and much more!

Session 24 – Education on the Move Tour. Take an educational tour through three interactive rooms to learn about the latest innovations in clinical care, value-based care, and technology to support your agency’s best practices! This experience will allow you to interact in small groups and learn more about innovation in our industry. The Tour features 3 rooms, with groups of 10 attendees rotating every 30 minutes. Each session is identical – please sign up for only one time slot.

Session 25 – State Capital Tour & Advocacy 101:  Learn How to Testify in Front of The Legislature (offsite via shuttle bus). This unique breakout session will take you to the Ohio Statehouse, guided by museum staff and the Hicks Partners team who will highlight specific items such as hearing rooms, testimony, and direct engagement with legislators/staff. You will learn a brief history of the Ohio Statehouse and general education of state government, the legislative process and how a bill becomes a law, and how effective advocacy & lobbying impacts public policy, state regulation and funding. The historic Ohio Statehouse is the seat of Ohio’s state government and is a magnificent monument to the people and the period during which Ohio’s democracy was founded and formed. The building provides the meeting places of the Ohio House of Representatives and Ohio Senate as well as working government offices. It is a wonderful example of Greek Revival architecture and includes art and historic artifacts on display. Additionally, if your schedules permit you may also visit the Statehouse Museum as well as the Museum Gift Shop. This experience is limited to 20 attendees at a time. Each tour will be identical so please only sign up for one to allow others to attend.

↑ back to top |  see speaker bios →

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