#HCAF2016
Carl Queton
Director of Marketing, AlayaCare
In Carl's role he is responsible for the global branding, marketing and communications of the innovative home healthcare software platform. Based out of Seattle, WA, Carl has spent the better part of the past decade as a global thought leader in the future of post-acute care, and a product marketing and sales enablement expert. Carl previously served as Director of Marketing for HHAeXchange, a New York based payer and agency management vendor, specializing in Medicaid Managed Care both in New York and across the United States. He also served as the Director of Global Marketing for the Procura Group of Companies, overseeing healthcare software brands in Canada, Australia and the United States. A graduate of Simon Fraser University, he has also served in marketing roles in brand consulting, non-profits, education, publishing, and professional services.
John started in the industry in 1992. He was a Medicare Auditor for 5 years, worked in the industry for 11+ years helping make a small two-agency organization into a multi-state home health powerhouse that excelled clinically and financially until the owners sold in 2008 at which time he transitioned to consulting for the home health industry. John has always been and continues to be one of the industry’s strongest advocates in all aspects financial and operational. In his consulting practice, he now helps agencies re-introduce strong and real financial fundamentals that have been severely lacking in our industry since the inception of PPS. He is likened to a turnaround specialist in that he has a history of helping underperforming agencies achieve profit margins that meet and/or exceed those as reported by MedPac and CMS. He helps his clients accomplish this through his work with improving an agency’s financial fundamentals and their understanding of Medicare reimbursement/ regulations, as well as through the licensing of his Resource Planner which helps strengthen the correlation between the OASIS and Plan of Care. John follows a ‘coaching’ approach to consulting to help all the players involved work better together to make a stronger and more profitable organization. He is a national speaker about financial operations, the annual Proposed and FINAL HH PPS Rule and other issues applicable to home health, and is often cited as a resource for many national publications regarding the issues faced today by HHAs & Hospices.
John Reisinger, CPA
Principal @ Innovative Financial Solutions for Home Health
Kathy specializes in teaching and educating nurses, focusing on improving home health provider clinical outcomes and reducing acute care hospitalizations for home care providers. To achieve these goals, she conducts on-site audits of home health care agencies, analyzes workflow processes, and makes recommendations for efficient processes resulting in better outcomes for patients. Kathy also functions as a quality manager for home health care providers with limited staff, reviewing records, recording information, and completing required state and federal quality audits. Kathy has also spearheaded the development of Qualiance, a first-of-its-kind software tool that enables home health agencies to automate their audit and reporting requirements in a convenient, online format.
Kathy is co-presenting with Ann Olson.
Kathryn Roby, BSN, MA, MS, CHCE
Senior Project Manager @ Qualidigm
Bob assisted in creating Cypress HomeCare Solutions with his family in 1994. With 31 years of consumer products, health care and technology experience, Bob is considered an innovator of technologies used to enhance communication and effectively support customers and peers.
Cypress HomeCare Solutions has been honored to receive a number of awards over the years, including Bob being chosen as the January 2014 CEO of the Month. Bob hosts a radio show called “Health Futures, Taking Stock in You.” This program airs every Friday from Noon to 1:00 pm on Money Radio 1510 AM, 99.3 FM. The talk show is about how to live a healthier happier life with a focus on our aging adult community. He writes a monthly column called “Aging Today” for the Jewish News of Greater Phoenix, and Lovin Life after 50 newspapers. Lastly Bob was a finalist for the 2015 Phoenix Business Journal’s prestigious Healthcare Heroes award. Bob’s background in consumer products marketing and his creative approach to marketing in home care has afforded him invitations to join the faculty and be an advisor to a number of national home care associations.
Bob Roth
Managing Partner @ Cypress HomeCare Solutions
Laurie specializes in episode management, disease management, and performance improvement. She is currently a manager in McBee Associates' LUPA rate reduction practice. She previously served as a national director for disease management at Amedisys. Ms. Salmons co-authored the book, OASIS-C Process Measures: A Program for Best Practices Implementation, and has written articles appearing in the Remington Report as well as several educational series for Beacon Health. She is a regular speaker on outcomes improvement at home health conferences across the country.
Laurie Salmons, RN, BSN
Clinical Consulting Manager @ McBee Associates
Dr. Shen, is a Yale graduate and prior Head of Cardiac Imaging and Procedure Utilization at Cleveland Clinic in Florida, with over 30 years of experience in healthcare and information technology, including 6 patents in procedure utilization and data extraction.
Dr. Shen is co-presenting with Eric Dandes.
Michael Shen, MD, FACC, CMO
Founder and Chief Medical Officer, Duxlink Health Technology
Jerry is a successful business owner, published author, and a respected leader in his community. He graduated with a BA in Economics from Texas A&M University in 1981. Shults served as the Mayor of League City Texas from 2005 to 2008 during which the city was voted “One of the Top 100 Small Cities to Live In.” After completing his service in League City, Shults moved to Austin, Texas to start a home health care company with his daughters. As president and CEO, he has guided Capitol Home Health to become one of Texas’ Best Companies to Work For, as named by the Texas Business Journal.
Jerry Shults
President/CEO, Capitol Home Health
Cherie is with a national law firm that represents employers in all areas of labor and employment law. Cherie has handled a wide range of employment litigation matters including defending large hospital systems and skilled nursing facilities against wage and hour actions, discrimination, harassment, and various other employment law claims. She has also successfully defended medical practices and healthcare providers before numerous government administrative agencies, including wage and hour audits by the Department of Labor.
Cherie L. Silberman, Esq.
Partner, Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP
Carolyn has fifteen years of experience as a clinical, educational and community-based occupational therapist with award winning practices. She is specially certified in the area of environmental modifications (SCEM) by the American Occupational Therapy Association and is nationally certified as an Aging in Place Specialist (CAPS) by the National Association of Homebuilders. Carolyn has been awarded “CAPS Designee of the Year” for her role in advocacy and leadership. She has spear headed Florida aging in place initiatives and home modification programming for local, state and national organizations that support healthy and appropriate environments for the aging community. She has served the Florida Department of Elder Affairs, the Orlando Senior Resource Alliance, AARP, National Rebuilding Together, Home Depot and the American Occupational Therapy Association, with her expertise in the home modification area. Carolyn is the Chief Health Officer for Home for Life Design, where she helps healthcare and aging in place service providers meet the needs of homeowners through technology and evidence-based practices, specifically in the area of home assessment.
Carolyn Sithong
Founder and Owner @ Home for Life Design, LLC
Sam s responsible for Axxess business development and industry relations. He joined the company in 2010, with more than thirty years of experience in strategic planning and entrepreneurship. Prior to joining Axxess, Smith served as founder and president of Vi3 Technologies, an information technology consulting firm. Previously, Smith was involved in the establishment of several companies in the technology and data industries. He also founded and served as president and CEO of Synergy Bank and First Waco National Bank.
Sam is co-presenting with Merrily Orsini.
C. Sam Smith
Senior Vice President of Business Development @ Axxess
Kim has more than 25 years of clinical, management, and consulting experience in home health and hospice. Her consulting experience includes startup and survey follow-up for state licensure and Medicare certification; due diligence; re-organization and re-engineering of operations; program development; education and training; clinical audit; regulatory and reimbursement issues; and program development for quality assessment, performance improvement, corporate compliance, and oversight processes. Kim is nationally recognized and highly respected by state, federal and industry leaders. She has acted as a liaison to state and federal regulatory agencies and legislators to facilitate collaboration regarding issues affecting the home care and hospice industry. Kim currently serves on the Hospice & Palliative Care Committee for the Connecticut Association for Healthcare at Home, where she previously served as the VP for Clinical & Regulatory Services. She is a member of the Regulatory Committee of the National Association for Hospice & Palliative Care (NHPCO), and serves as a corporator for Connecticut Community Care Inc., and served as adjunct faculty for the University of Connecticut's School of Nursing.
Kimberly Skehan, RN, MSN
Senior Manager @ Simione Healthcare Consultants, LLC
An internationally known healthcare and business strategist, award winning professional speaker, published author and consultant, Stephen Tweed works with CEOs of home health care, hospice, and private duty home care organizations that are in the top 10% of the industry, and CEOs who want to be in the top 10%. Stephen is CEO of Leading Home Care ... a Tweed Jeffries company. Stephen is the author of STRATEGIC FOCUS: A Gameplan for Developing Competitive Advantage, and co-author of five books specifically written for the home care industry. He is the Publisher of Home Care CEO Report, the leading electronic newsletter for CEOs and Executives of Home Care agencies around the world.
Stephen is co-presenting with Elizabeth Jeffries.
Stephen Tweed, CSP
Chairman and CEO @ Leading Home Care... a Tweed Jeffries company
Sparkle is a physical therapist working in home care since 1994 as direct care provider, staff educator, PPS analyst, OASIS and ICD-9/10-CM coding instructor and consultant. She draws from this extensive background to provide practical education that is both fun & effective. Sparkle is nationally known for her humorous approach and ability to explain difficult topics in terms that all in home care can understand. She has served as an advisor to and member of the Board of Medical Specialty Coding. Sparkle is a graduate of the American Health Information Management Association’s Academy for ICD-10-CM Coding where she earned the designation of AHIMA Approved ICD-10-CM Coding Instructor. Sparkle holds the Certificate for OASIS Specialist-Clinical (COS-C) designation and is a Senior Associate Consultant with OASIS Answers, Inc.
Sparkle A. Sparks, PT, MPT, COS-C, HCS-D
Senior Associate Consultant @ OASIS Answers, Inc.
Bonnie is a dynamic and innovative speaker and leader. She is responsible for orientation, compliance and staff development, providing expertise with OASIS, coding, regulatory compliance, policy and procedures, operational proficiency, and quality improvement. With 21 years of experience in the healthcare industry, she has devoted over 10 years in home health serving many functions across the homecare spectrum, including marketing, clinical management, education, and program development.
Bonnie Staas, LPN, COS-C
Staff Educator@ Acute Home Healthcare, Inc.
Melanie began her practice as an Occupational Therapist in 1996. Her unique talent in sales emerged early in her career and as she worked with health care companies of all sizes directly as a sales person, sales manager and national sales trainer. She founded HomeCareSales in 2001 and has quickly established herself as an authority in Medicare Certified Home Health and Private Duty sales. She excels in training professionals in sales to produce MORE results in LESS time using proper account management, effective selling skills, sales leadership, personal branding, time management and customer service. Melanie has also been a speaker at Power Referrals Conference, Med Trade, CAHSAH annual meeting, NAHC and Corporate National Meetings on the topics of Sales tactics and leadership. Home Care Sales offers on site sales staff evaluation and training, including ride alongs, full day workshops management and coaching. Distance learning methods are available in the form of on demand videos systems, webinars and coaching.
Melanie Stover, OT, MBA, MS/ISM
President/COO @ Home Care Sales by Power Shot Training
Certified as an official ICD-10 trainer, Jennifer’s expert knowledge plays an integral role in the development of OASIS Analysis Plus, PPS Plus Software’s OASIS analysis software. Jennifer has a bachelor’s degree in nursing and certification as a home care coding specialist – diagnosis and an OASIS Specialist-Clinical. She has held various nursing positions, including director of ER, consultant, chart auditor and various staff nurse positions.
Jennifer Warfield, BSN, COS-C, HCS-D
Education Director @ PPS Plus
Polly has 30 years of regulatory experience from the various roles she has filled in the Florida State Government regulatory realm. From 1995 to 2014, Ms. Weaver has been the Chief of Field Operations for the Division of Health Quality Assurance, Agency for Health Care Administration. And, most recently, Ms. Weaver has been appointed as the Assistant Deputy Secretary of Health Quality Assurance at the Agency. Responsibilities include serving as State Survey Agency Director and oversight of the Bureau of Field Operations and the Bureau of Plans and Construction. In addition, Ms. Weaver is responsible for oversight of health care facility complaint administration activities. Ms. Weaver’s clinical expertise is in laboratory medicine.
Polly Weaver
Assistant Deputy Secretary , HQAState Survey Agency Director @ Agency for Health Care Administration
ARMG is a national provider of consulting, management and staffing solutions for the home care industry. Since 1997 ARMG has assisted agencies across the country with the unique challenges related to the rehabilitation component of operations, outcomes, and compliance. Chad has successfully helped clients of all sizes ranging from private operators to publicly traded corporations build and manage high performance therapy teams. Chad has lectured on many of the challenges facing homecare today to include Value Based Purchasing, CCJR, 5 STAR, and compliance risk. Beyond consulting and education, ARMG clinical staff are also responsible for the direct care and management of hundreds of thousands of therapy visits each year (many of which are in Florida), assuring that they practice what they preach. In 2014 Chad was re-appointed to the Georgia Board of Physical Therapy by Governor Deal and is actively involved in home care and therapy associations throughout the country.
Chad Whitefield, PTA
Founder & CEO @ Advance Rehabilitation Management Group (ARMG)
Debbie is a co-founder of Ritken & Associates. and a Certified Wound Ostomy Continence Nurse with experience in the home care/hospice, acute care, rehab and LTAC settings. She has functioned in various roles from direct patient care to corporate program management, and offers realistic solutions to your WOCN needs. She possesses extensive knowledge of the WOCN Society best practices relating to in-patient and home based wound management, utilizing this knowledge to develop strategies necessary to ensure the highest possible patient outcomes while maintaining clinical and regulatory compliance. Debbie served on WOCN/OASIS-C, C1 advisory committee to CMS, as content validation expert for WOCN Stoma Complications Document for clinician best practices and as a member of WOCN Document Review Task Force for review of Best Practice Documents.
Debbie is co-presenting with Sue Kennedy.
Debbie Ritter, RN, BSN, CWOCN
Co-Founder @ Ritken & Associates
Loretta Pigeon
Director of Community Relations @ Family Caregivers Network
Loretta Pigeon is currently employed with Family Caregivers Network as the Director of Community Relations. She began her healthcare career in 2005 when she received her Associates degree as a Medical Assistant and then went onto receive her Bachelor's in Healthcare Management. Loretta’s clinical experience ranges from Pediatrics to Geriatrics. She was the Clinical Coordinator of a fast paced Pediatric Physician’s group outside of Philadelphia before joining the team at Family Caregivers Network. As her experience grew in the field of Geriatrics she took on the role of Scheduling Coordinator and quickly moved up to the position of Clinical Supervising Coordinator for Family Caregivers Network. Her passion to learn more about Geriatrics and Business has lead her to be promoted to the position of Director of Community Relations. In this position she is responsible for the development of community programs and marketing. She performs regular clinical education programs under the direction of Registered Nurse and Owner Gerry Fioriglio RN, CDP, BS. In 2014 Loretta became certified as a Virtual Dementia Tour Facilitator, a program developed by “Second Wind Dreams.” Her desire to help our aging population live a better quality of life is evident in her daily work and her own professional goals. In her spare time she volunteers locally for the Upper Perkiomen Business and Professional Women’s Organization where she is the 1st Vice-President in charge of programs.
Kristen has been involved in health care since 1990. She joined VNA/Hospice of the Florida Keys in 2006, creating their private duty division, Life At Home. In 2015, she co-founded Island Private Care, a licensed-only private duty agency in Monroe County. She is honored to be part of the HCAF team and to be involved in private duty homecare on a state level.
Kristen Wheeler
Director of Private Duty Services, HCAF
Angelo Spinola, JD
Littler Mendelson, PC
Angelo Spinola is nationally recognized as one of the leading practitioners regularly representing the home care industry across the country in connection with a variety of labor and employment law issues. Angelo regularly represents home care providers to defend collective and class actions brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act and various state wage and hour laws, respond to wage and hour investigations by the Department of Labor and develop compliance measures that minimize wage and hour exposure. Angelo represents hundreds of home care providers in the State of Florida and throughout the US.
Effective June 2016, Anne L. Swerlick has joined the Florida CHAIN staff as Policy Director. Ms. Swerlick is a highly experienced attorney who has dedicated her career to promoting health care access for the most vulnerable Floridians, including children, the elderly and persons with disabilities. Anne was formerly employed as Executive Director and Deputy Director of Advocacy with Florida Legal Services, Managing Attorney with the Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities (now known as Disability Rights Florida) and as Deputy Director and staff attorney with Jacksonville Area Legal Aid. She received her B.A. from the University of Virginia, and her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.
Christopher White
National Account Executive, Benefits in a Card
Christopher has been providing companies with sound benefits consulting for 8 years, and is licensed in life, accident and health insurance. His unique perspective as both a benefits provider and HR professional allow him to navigate the complex ACA landscape for his clients. Christopher is co-presenting with Sarah Oliver.
Anne Swerlick
Florida CHAIN Policy Director
Speakers: P-Z
HCAF is honored to have the following presenters participating in our 2016 Annual Conference & Trade Show.
Check back soon for new additions!