The Delta OASIS-C Best Practices Forum Steering Committee was made up of national clinical leaders from organizations throughout the country. The Committee was responsible for overseeing the project, helping to coordinate the Forum and meeting schedules, and providing specific input at various stages of the project.

Members of the National Steering Committee served as active participants and facilitators for the Delta OASIS-C Best Practices Forum held in Chicago on November 10 – 11, 2009.

Donna Baldwin, Banner Home Care, Gilbert, AZ

Keith Crownover, Delta Health Technologies, Altoona, PA

Keith R. Crownover, M.B.A., B.S.H.R.M., is President and CEO of Delta Health Technologies, LLC, in Altoona, Pennsylvania, which has been providing home care information systems since 1974 and is a charter member of the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC). He’s been involved in home care information technologies for more than 24 years. Mr. Crownover has extensive experience in all operational areas of health care IT, including sales, sales management, customer support, systems consulting, product development, and operations. Noteworthy accomplishments include the establishment of a customer-driven product advisory committee and a national users conference. Mr. Crownover sits on the National Association for Home Care & Hospice Board of Directors and chairs the Home Care Technology Association of America.

Deborah Deitz, Abt Associates, Inc., Cambridge, MA

Deborah Deitz, R.N., B.S.N., is a health services researcher with Abt Associates, Inc. For the past decade, her work has focused on development and revision of Medicare home health payment case-mix adjustment, refinement of the OASIS dataset, and development of quality measures based on OASIS data. Ms. Deitz served as primary liaison for the 90 home health agencies involved in CMS’s original Home Health Prospective Payment System case-mix demonstration, was a member of the CMS OASIS Change and Evolution Technical Expert Panel, and has conducted cost/benefit analyses of home health reporting requirements. She led the clinical team that developed and field-tested the OASIS-C data set, and is currently the Deputy Project Director for CMS’s OASIS Quality Measure Development and Maintenance Project.

Gail Delaney-Woolford, Home Health VNA, Lawrence, MA

Gail DeLaney-Woolford RN, MS is a senior healthcare executive experienced in complex aspects of home health, hospital and health system planning, administration, operations, clinical quality and financial management. For the past seven years, as the Vice President of Clinical Operations at Home Health VNA in Lawrence, MA, she has enjoyed the leadership and operational challenges associated with managing a $30 million VNA in times of uncertainty and rapid change. With five regional offices, HHVNA is one of the largest VNAs in New England and provides a full range of interdisciplinary and specialty services to an average daily census of 2,500 residents in 85 cities and towns in MA and southern NH. In the past three years Gail led HHVNA through multiple successful acquisitions and a recent merger. She is dedicated to assuring the HHVNA organizational structure and processes facilitate ongoing company-wide improvement in OASIS competency, coding, and quality outcomes. She participates in the homecare associations of both Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Erin M. Denhom, Centura Health at Home, Denver, CO

Erin M. Denholm, M.N.S., B.S.N., is the CEO of Senior Living Communities & Home Health for Centura Health at Home. A nationally known speaker, consultant, and leader in home care and hospice industry, she is accountable for a $91 million division with a $1 billion hospital system that includes home care, telehealth, hospice, infusion and oxygen/DME, and senior living campuses throughout Colorado. Ms. Denholm developed and implemented Telehealth programming for the chronic care senior population, resulting in $2 million in savings over a two-year period. A member of the Board of Directors of the Home Care Association of Colorado and the Colorado Hospice Organization, she is a member of the National Association of Home Care, American Telemedicine Association and Colorado Association of Medical Equipment Suppliers.

Andrea L. Devoti, Neighborhood Health Agencies, Inc., West Chester, PA

Andrea L. Devoti is the Vice President/ Executive Director of the Neighborhood Health Agencies, Inc. in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The agency provides home care services to 400 patients, Hospice to 140 patients and has a small Private Pay Personal care service providing care to 40 patients. The agency has a large volunteer service associated with the hospice that has almost 200 volunteers providing all levels of service to our hospice patients and their families. Andrea teaches Community Health Administration on the Graduate level at West Chester University, and has presented workshops at the past three NAHC Annual meetings. Andrea is the Secretary of the Board of Directors of NAHC and President of the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Homecare Association.

Andrea holds a Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master’s in Business Administration from Widener University. She is a certified Home Health and Hospice Executive.

Larry Disney, Nebraska Health at Home, Lincoln, NE

Larry Disney is the Executive Director of CHI Nebraska’s HealthConnect at Home. Disney is responsible for the home care, hospice, and home infusion programs provided by CHI Nebraska affiliated hospitals which include Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney, Saint Elizabeth Regional Medical Center in Lincoln, Saint Francis Medical Center in Grand Island, and Saint Mary’s Community Hospital in Nebraska City Previously, Disney was the Kentucky based Business Development Manager for The LHC Group, LaFayette, Louisiana and was Vice President for Market Research and Corporate Development, Health Management Associates, Lexington, Kentucky.

Disney is past President of the Kentucky Home Health Association and currently serves on the Board of the Kentucky Home Care Foundation. Disney began his home care career over 16 years ago, is a registered nurse with a diverse background in home health operations, clinical management, business development, public relations, and strategic planning, and holds a Masters of Science in Nursing focusing in Community Health Administration from the University of Kentucky, Lexington.

Dr. Robert A. Fazzi, Fazzi Associates, Project Co-Director

Dr. Robert A. Fazzi is Managing Partner and President/CEO of Fazzi Associates, a national consulting, benchmarking, training and best practice research firm. Bob has been the director or co-director of a number of national research studies on an array of issues partnering on projects with some of the most recognized international companies including PricewaterhouseCoopers, the 3M Corporation, and Philips Medical Systems where he led a national study on the use of telehealth and remote patient monitoring in home care. He recently completed a new study for BlackBerry on technology, telehealth, leadership, and operational issues in home care.

Lynn Harlow, Fazzi Associates, Project Manager

Lynn is a Partner with Fazzi Associates and as the Director of Development manages the firm’s Business Intelligence Division. She directs our research on health care statistics and has served as the Project Coordinator for a number of Fazzi Associates National Studies including the 3M National OASIS Integrity Project and the National Operational Benchmark Study, the project that led to the development of the nation’s largest best practice benchmark and management system.

Mary Haynor, Horizon Home Care, Brown Deer, WI

Cindy Krafft, Fazzi Associates, Project Clinical Co-Director

Cindy Krafft, MS PT, COS-C, is the Assistant Director of Operational Consulting for Fazzi Associates. She has been in home health for 14 years in a variety of capacities from PRN clinician to the Director of Rehabilitation for a six agency home care system. She is currently working with agencies to develop their rehabilitation programs, helping them to achieve their highest potential both clinically and financially. She has been a well received speaker at both the state and national levels on the topics of documentation, program development, therapy utilization and recruitment. She is the Vice President of the Home Health Section of the American Physical Therapy Association and the Chair of the NAHC Therapy Advisory Committee.

Liz Madigan, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH

Liz Madigan, PhD, R.N., F.A.A.N., is a professor of nursing at the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. Prior to assuming her faculty role, she practiced as a front-line staff nurse in several agencies in Ohio and also was an agency administrator. Since 1992, she has been doing research in home health care, including re-hospitalization, visit front-loading and, most recently with OASIS-C development and testing under contract with CMS.

Barbara McCann, Interim HealthCare, Sunrise, FL

Barbara A. McCann, M.N.S., B.A.S.W., is the Chief Clinical Officer of Interim HealthCare Inc. in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the nation’s second largest home care and medical staffing company, with more than 300 offices in 44 states. Ms. McCann oversees the company’s field and corporate clinical operations and directs two national home care patient databases incorporating OASIS as well as patient satisfaction and outcome measures. She previously served as Executive Director of Accreditation, Plan Performance and Clinical Management Alliances at the national Blue Cross Blue Shield Association in Chicago. Responsible for system-wide strategies for managed care accreditation and health plan performance data, she successfully designed and implemented the association’s first national HEDIS (Health Plan and Employer Data Information Set) database and Medicare and commercial HMO “report cards” for national accounts. Ms. McCann has received several national awards for her dedication to quality care.

Eileen McFadden, Providence VNA Home Health, Spokane, WA

Eileen McFadden, B.S.N., M.N., COS-C, Manager of Clinical Services & Education at Providence VNA Home Health in Spokane, Washington. She has been employed in home health care for the last 18 years during which time she has been a trainer and consultant for both rural and urban clinicians in Eastern Washington region.

Natalie M. Pilgreen, LHC Group, Layfayette, LA

Natalie M. Pilgreen, A.S.N., L.P.N., is Director of Outcome Support for LHC Group, responsible for the process of obtaining, analyzing and reporting of home health data for more than 200 agencies. COS-C certified, she oversees the education and information provided to leadership and field staff regarding Home Health Compare/Outcome and OASIS, develops the organization’s outcome department functions, and participates in policy and procedure development and revisions. Previously, Ms. Pilgreen was charged reviewing OASIS for inconsistencies and making recommendations for multiple agencies to improve reportable outcomes, while also providing OASIS education to individual clinicians. Her background as a team leader/field nurse included the coordination of patient care for LHC’s St. Landry Homecare.

Michele A. Quirolo, Visiting Nurse Association of Hudson Valley, Tarrytown, NY

Michele A. Quirolo, M.S.N.A., B.S.N., is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Visiting Nurse Association of Hudson Valley, New York, one of the area’s largest non-profit, certified home health care agencies. During her 16-year tenure, Ms. Quirolo led VNA’s affiliation with Sound Shore Health System and inclusion in the Pinnacle Healthcare Network, the largest hospital network north of New York City. She was instrumental in growing the agency’s certified hospice program and a licensed private duty agency. Thanks to her commitment to cutting-edge technology, the VNA was the first agency in Westchester County to use Telehealth. Ms. Quirolo’s efforts have helped to grow VNA from a $6 million organization that served approximately 3,000 patients in 1993 to a $25 million multi-service agency caring for more than 6,500 patients in 2008. A member of numerous professional organizations, she chairs the Board of the National Association for Home Care and Hospice.

Shelia Roberts, Catholic Healthcare West, Sacramento, CA

Sheila Roberts, RN, BSN, COS-C, HCS-D. a registered nurse since 1976 has been in home care the past 29 years as a clinician, Supervisor, Director of the Medicare and Private home care division, and Administrator. She is currently working as the Quality Manager for a Catholic Healthcare West organization, Mercy Home Health and Hospice, in the Sacramento, California service area. Sheila holds both the Certificate for OASIS Specialist-Clinical and the Home Care Coding Specialist-Diagnosis certification.

Pamela Teenier, Gentiva Health Services, Corpus Christi, TX

Pamela Teenier, RN, MBA, CHCE, COS-C, HCS-D is the Assistant Vice President, Medicare Operations for Gentiva Health Services. Over the past 20 years she has fulfilled many different roles with Gentiva, currently working with locations to improve knowledge on OASIS completion, ICD-9 coding and PPS analysis. She has participated in several CMS Technical Expert Panels, providing information on home health operations and the impact of regulations. She is active in the Texas Association for Home Care, serving on committees and the Board of Directors.

Tecla K. Webber, Saint Francis Hospital, Tulsa, OK

Tecla K. Webber, M.B.A., R.N., is the Administrator of Home Health Care at Saint Francis Hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She has been active in the home care industry for nearly 30 years, beginning her career as a field nurse for the Visiting Nurse Association in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, as well as a hospital discharge planner. For many years, Ms. Webber served as Saint Francis Hospital’s Director of Post Acute Services, which included oversight of the home health agency and skilled nursing unit, occupational nursing, outpatient infusion company and parish nurse program. She is a member of

Oklahoma State Department of Health’s Home Health Advisory Committee, the Board of Tulsa Day Center for the Homeless and Delta Health Technologies’ Product Advisory Committee. She previously served on National Association for Home Care’s Hospital Home Care Advisory Board.

Rhonda Will, Fazzi Associates, Project Clinical Co-Director

Rhonda Will, RN, BS, COS-C, HCS-D, is a Senior Clinical Consultant and Assistant Director of the Home Care Quality Institute for Fazzi Associates, Inc. She has 38 years experience as a registered nurse and has worked in home health care since 1979 in various clinical, administrative and management roles. Rhonda has extensive experience in staff development and as a trainer. Her areas of expertise include PPS and OASIS assessment skill building, documentation, intake and referral processes, care management, regulatory compliance, and policy and procedure development. Rhonda provided clinical leadership for the 2003 3M National OASIS Integrity Project. She has developed a reputation in the home health industry as an OASIS Expert and is often interviewed for home health care publications. Rhonda currently serves as a member of the Editorial Board for “Home Healthcare Nurse: The Journal for the Home Care and Hospice Professional”.

Kay Wright, RN, MBA, Fazzi Associates, Project Co-Director

Kay Wright, RN, MBA, is a Partner at Fazzi Associates and the National Director of Fazzi’s Quality Institute, a division dedicated to improving the accuracy of agency OASIS assessments and their quality outcomes. She has served as President of a number of freestanding and hospital-based organizations including one of New England’s largest home care agencies. Kay has served on a number of national Boards and has directly provided operational review services to agencies throughout the country. She is recognized as one of home care’s premier experts on operations and effective quality and financial management.

Bonnie Yingling, Delta Health Technologies, Altoona, PA

Bonnie A. Yingling, M.B.A., B.S.H.P.A., is Vice President of Product Portfolio Management for Delta Health Technologies, LLC, in Altoona, Pennsylvania. She is responsible for determining the overall design and functionality in the Encore® product suite, which incorporates new technologies, features and expanded data collection capabilities to help home care organizations focus on patients. Ms. Yingling’s career with Delta began in 1995 after working as a nurse in a variety of health care settings for 12 years. She initially worked as an implementation consultant for Delta and held a variety of positions in application support, clinical application testing, and product design. Ms. Yingling is also a bereavement volunteer for the Home Nursing Agency in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

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