Bluegrass Care Names Clinical Services COO; Hospice Maui Appoints New CEO

Bluegrass Care Navigators names clinical services COO

Lexington, Ky.-based hospice provider Bluegrass Care Navigators has named Stephanie Greene as its new chief operating officer of clinical services. She succeeds Cassie Mitchell, who left the organization to become CEO of Colorado-based HopeWest Hospice.

In this COO role, Greene will be charged with overseeing operations of all of the organization’s clinical service lines, which include hospice, palliative and home-based primary care in addition to adult day health care, behavioral medicine and clinical pharmacy.

Greene joined Bluegrass Care Navigators in 2017 as its vice president and chief hospice officer and brings 15 years of hospital leadership experience. She previously led operations and sales strategies for multiple outpatient clinics at the Saint Joseph Health System in Kentucky.

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“Stephanie brings many years of clinical leadership experience in a variety of settings with her to this role, with a relentless passion for supporting patients and families, and developing team members,” said President and CEO Liz Fowler in a company announcement. “Stephanie embraces the mission of Bluegrass Care Navigators to deliver comforting care at the right time to the seriously ill.”

BlueGrass Care Navigators provides hospice in 32 counties in central, eastern and northern Kentucky. The provider in 2019 unveiled an integrative medicine program designed to help manage patient symptoms such as pain and anxiety. That same year, it launched a community-based pediatric palliative care program that offers specialized medical care to infants, children, adolescents and young adults suffering from serious illness.

Hospice Maui appoints new CEO

Hawaii-based Hospice Maui has recently appointed Melanie Wyer as its new CEO after the passing of Gregory LaGoy, M.D., who served at its helm for more than 30 years.

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Wyer took the reins as interim CEO in January. She was previously the clinical director at Hospice Maui.

Established roughly 40 years ago, Hospice Maui provides hospice and supportive care throughout Maui, Moloka’i and Lana’i communities in Hawaii. LaGoy helped to build the health care organization “from scratch,” according to Dwyer, beginning with a few employees providing care to a handful of patients in Maui before expanding its geographical reach, census and team to a staff of more than 80 employees.

“My hope is that Greg’s legacy inspires each and every one of us in our own way to be better leaders, mentors, and friends to each other and the ones who come after us as we carry the mission and vision for Hospice Maui forward,” said Dwyer in a company newsletter. “He built our Hospice Maui Hale to provide a space for patients and families when care at the home is no longer an option.”

Sangre de Cristo lands new palliative care director

Colorado-based Sangre de Cristo Community Care has announced Viviana Bozzi as its new palliative care director.

Bozzi was previously a registered nurse for 14 years in the neurological trauma intensive care unit of the Parkview Medical Center, a hospital system located in the same area.

In addition to its main office and hospice house in Pueblo, Colorado, Sangre de Cristo operates four locations across a 20,000-square-mile area in the state’s southern region. In addition to hospice it provides home health and palliative care.

The company has expanded its palliative care services in light of potential opportunities in the value-based insurance design (VBID) demonstration. Commonly called the Medicare Advantage hospice carve-in, the VBID program requires participating hospices to offer palliative care upstream.

“There’s lots of innovative things that can come from Medicare Advantage companies and partnerships with them,” Sangre de Cristo’s former CEO Tarrah Lowry told Hospice News last July. “They need to see us as more than just end-of-life care; they need to see us as part of that care continuum as we move up through palliative care, and that’s really what I hope comes from this.”

Hospice of the Northwest’s executive director steps down

After a decade of service, Wendy Coates has stepped down as the executive director of the Hospice of the Northwest (HNW) Foundation to “pursue a new challenge,” according to a recent company announcement. The foundation is currently in the works of conducting a national search to fill the role.

Coates joined the foundation in 2012 and has overseen a nearly 200% increase in overall funding for Hospice of the Northwest. Additionally, she helped build an endowment fund that supports the hospice’s community grief services and integrative therapies programs, along with providing direct patient assistance.

“She leaves the foundation with an incredibly healthy endowment fund, a solid and carefully cultivated donor base, and a reputation for total dedication to the patients and families we serve,” said Mary Ryan, chair of the HNW Foundation’s board of trustees, in an announcement.

The HNW Foundation experienced “growth and stability” under Coates’ leadership, with the organization indicating this as an important and solid foundation to continued sustainability.

Washington-based Hospice of the Northwest provides care across four counties in the state. Initially named Skagit Hospice when it began services in 1989, the organization rebranded in 2011. The hospice partners with Skagit Regional Health to provide end-of-life and serious illness care

“She was very successful in funding the end-of-life needs of thousands of patients and families,” said Skagit Regional Health CEO Brian Ivie. “Her expertise in philanthropy will be missed.”

Hospice tech provider WellSky’s plans to expand with new chief growth officer

WellSky recently hired a new chief growth officer, Dale Zurbay, who will lead the post-acute technology company’s “next phase of evolution” in expansion, starting with expansion of its world headquarters based in Kansas.

Zurbay most recently served as senior vice president of sales for Nuance Communications, a health care artificial intelligence company. He has more than 25 years of experience in sales, business development and executive leadership in the health care technology space.

“Dale is an exceptional leader with a demonstrated track record of achievement across diversified healthcare markets,” said WellSky President and CEO Bill Miller. “This addition to our team, paired with our upcoming world headquarters expansion, is validation of the tremendous work our teammates do every day and the increasing demand for our cutting-edge solutions.”

WellSky is moving its world headquarters to accommodate a growing workforce, which currently consists of 2,200 staff globally. The company’s employee base in its Kansas headquarters has more than quadrupled in size, with WellSky planning to boost its ranks by hiring an additional 1,000 staff.

Since its start in 2017, WellSky’s has expanded its lines of technology products and services, working with more than 20,000 client sites across the United States. Roughly 30% of home-based companies nationwide utilize its health care software programs.

The international company also provides software, analytics and services in Belgium, Britain, Canada, Holland, Ireland, Norway, Singapore and South Africa.

The company’s expansion is in part due to a growing importance for technological efficiencies as the nation’s health care system moves closer to value-based payment models.
In these, emerging technologies such as predictive analytics and interoperable electronic medical records (EMR) will be an “essential part” of how hospices and other providers do business, Miller previously told Hospice News.

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