SARASOTA, Florida—The Tidewell Foundation board of trustees announced its new board officers for its 2025 fiscal year. The Florida-based nonprofit hospice provider, which is a member of Empath Health, was established in an effort to provide philanthropic support to Tidewell Hospice and Empath’s not-for-profit affiliate organizations.
Hospice
ALEXANDRIA, Virginia—Steve Landers, CEO of the National Alliance for Care at Home (The Alliance), announced Sherl Brand will join The Alliance as its first chief operating officer (COO) beginning in January 2025.
MCKINNEY, Texas—New Day Healthcare, a home-based services provider, announced the acquisition of hospice operations in Missouri and Texas from Intrepid USA, a full-service home health agency. The company said these hospice operations aim to further its existing service line offerings and operations.
NEW YORK—HHAeXchange, a homecare management solutions company, and state Medicaid programs, have announced this year’s “Caregiving Champions” award winners, in celebration of National Homecare and Hospice Month.
PLANO, Texas—Heart to Heart Hospice, a hospice care service provider, will recognize National Hospice Week from Monday, Nov. 11 through Friday, Nov. 15, a week that was designated by the National Alliance for Care at Home as a time to focus on the value of end-of-life care and the caregivers who serve patients and their families.
TYLER, Texas—Choice Health at Home, a multi-state operator of home health, hospice, private duty and rehabilitation services, announced the acquisition of Accentra Home Health and Hospice, a home health and hospice organization, and expanded its credit facilities.
DALLAS—Enhabit Inc., a home health and hospice provider, announced it has been recognized by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) as an Age-Friendly Health Systems participant.
BALTIMORE—The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released the first draft of its hospice outcomes and patient evaluation (HOPE) tool, a new assessment tool for hospices. The HOPE tool was developed to replace the hospice item set (HIS) as part of the hospice quality reporting program (HQRP).
SPARTANBURG, South Carolina—Agape Care Group (ACG), a provider of hospice and palliative care and portfolio company of Ridgemont Equity Partners, has acquired select Crossroads Hospice locations in Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas and Georgia. Crossroads Hospice will continue to operate in Tennessee, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
WASHINGTON—Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), a senior member of the Ways and Means Committee, introduced the Hospice Care Accountability, Reform and Enforcement Act (Hospice CARE Act) in an effort to modernize Medicare’s hospice benefit, which has remained largely unchanged since its inception in 1982.
ALEXANDRIA, Virginia & WASHINGTON—The National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) unveiled its new name and logo as well as the initial website of the new national organization that will carry forward the work of serving homecare, home health, hospice and palliative care providers as they deliver patients care in their own homes and communities
COLUMBUS, Ohio & BRENTWOOD, Tennessee—Compassus, a national provider of integrated home-based care services, and OhioHealth, a nonprofit health care outreach of the United Methodist Church, announced the finalization of their partnership for home health and hospice services to be called OhioHealth at Home in partnership with Compassus.
WASHINGTON— Dr. Steven Landers has been named the inaugural chief executive officer (CEO) of the newly merged NAHC-NHPCO Alliance (The Alliance). A national leader and innovator in home health, primary care and aging services, Landers brings almost two decades of experience as a physician, executive leader and health policy advocate to The Alliance, which represents care at home and community providers across the country.
CLEVELAND, Ohio—Hospice of the Western Reserve (HWR), a premier provider of hospice and palliative care services in Northern Ohio, has completed its acquisition of Hospice of North Central Ohio (HNCO). This strategic alliance aims to expand access to high-quality, comprehensive end-of-life care across a broader region.
FRANKLIN, Tennessee—Traditions Health announced its Lawrenceville, Georgia branch is now a Level Five Partner with We Honor Veterans, a program of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO). Traditions Health of Lawrenceville is one of only seven hospices in the state of Georgia to have earned Level Five status.
FRANKLIN, Tennessee—American Health Plans, a division of American Health Partners, has announced its partnership with Empath Health, a not-for-profit hospice and home-based health care organization. Their partnership seeks to grow American Health Advantage of Florida, an Institutional Special Needs Plans (ISNP) providing Medicare Advantage coverage to the long-term care population of Florida.
SARASOTA, Florida—Tidewell Foundation received a grant of $5,050 from the Eugene H. and Elizabeth Hull Fund of the Manatee Community Foundation (MCF) to support Tidewell Hospice grief services in Manatee County.
The grant will support art-related grief and bereavement programming for Tidewell Hospice, which provides 13 months of grief support services, free of charge, to family members of Tidewell patients after their loss.
WASHINGTON—The new group formed by the recent merger of the National Association for Homecare and Hospice (NAHC) and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) has already gotten to work advocating in the industry—even though it doesn’t yet have a name or CEO.
LOS ANGELES—A Ventura County physician who worked for two Pasadena hospices pleaded guilty to defrauding Medicare out of more than $3 million by billing the public health insurance program for medically unnecessary hospice services.
Victor Contreras, 68, of Santa Paula, pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud.