Sue Lyn Schramm, MA, Managing Principal

Sue Lyn Schramm, MA

Sue Lyn Schramm is Founder and Principal of Schramm Consulting, LLC. She has been a hospice executive and consultant for more than 30 years. Sue Lyn has advised dozens of hospice providers and state associations throughout the U.S. She has deep expertise in strategic planning, hospice mergers and acquisitions, market opportunity analysis, hospice facility planning, and certificate of need regulation for hospices (CON). From 2014 until mid-2017, Sue Lyn was the managing Director of NHPCO Edge, the consulting services division at The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. NHPCO is the largest nonprofit membership organization representing hospice and palliative care programs and professionals in the United States.

Sue Lyn is a frequent public speaker on healthcare topics, and has also authored multiple books and articles on healthcare management. Her book Global Capitation: Strategies and Techniques for Assuming Full Risk was published by McGraw-Hill and the Healthcare Financial Management Association in 1999.

Presentation Topic Areas:

Hospice National Trends
Nonprofit Affiliations for Hospices
Business Planning for Palliative Care
Governance and Strategic Planning for Hospice
Healthcare Payment Reform and Innovation

www.linkedin.com/in/suelynschramm/

Brad Borbidge, CPA

Brad Borbidge has four decades of home health and hospice industry experience. His passion is helping clients improve operations. Using his prior experience as a CFO, he has developed key operational indicators that predict financial profitability for home health and hospice providers. These indicators are used to assist clients in identifying operational opportunities to improve financial performance while not compromising patient outcomes. Brad routinely presents to management teams and senior leadership throughout the year on operations and industry matters. In addition to financial and operational benchmarking, Brad has particular expertise in:

Mergers and acquisitions, including financial projections and due diligence (both financial and operational)
Financial compliance for cost reports and tax return preparation
Operational consulting for process improvement
Interim management
Feasibility studies, including hospice residences and inpatient facilities

Susan de Cuba, MA

Susan brings strategic insight to clients including hospices, health plans, health systems and other organizations focused on improving the experience of patients with advanced illness. As former President and CEO of Treasure Health, a Florida hospice and palliative care provider with a census of more than 800 patients, Susan was instrumental in bringing about organizational transformation from within, rebranding the parent company to better align with expanded healthcare services, developing an integrated workforce, strengthening community partnerships, and increasing philanthropic donations. She has special expertise with provider network development, and recently completed an engagement with a California health plan developing a high quality hospice network based on quality outcomes and performance measures. In addition to consulting, Susan often serves as an interim provider CEO, able to step into the most challenging situations providing stability and grace. Susan supports clients with:

Executive mentoring and coaching
Strategic planning
Interim executive management
Hospice network development and outcomes measurement
Palliative care service design
Post-affiliation integration of operations for hospices

Ruth COTÉ, MSN, RN

A diligent healthcare manager with over 20 years’ experience in hospice and home health, Ruth Cote has a proven track record of assisting hospice agencies with a broad array of compliance and risk management support. Over her decades of experience she has helped hospice providers achieve initial accreditation with CHAP, conducted clinical record audits as part of due diligence during mergers and acquisitions, and supported multiple hospice agencies in ending MCR provider-specific probe edits within 3- 6 months of initiation. Ruth works both remotely and on-site to provide:

Compliance risk assessment
TPE Audit support
Assessment of IDG and patient visit procedures
Mock certification surveys
HIPAA compliance review and risk assessment

Prior to becoming a consultant to hospices, Ruth was Vice President of Quality and Performance Improvement for a multi-state provider and managed a quality department of more than 20 staff members in five states. Under her leadership, that department achieved an 85% reimbursement rate with initial ADR claims and 90% favorable rate with Administrative Law Judge hearings under CMS. As primary lead in a case contesting a preliminary finding of Medicaid overpayment, her team successfully reduced the overpayment amount by 95%.

Carla Braveman, BSN, RN, M.Ed., CHCE

Carla Braveman has more than 30 years of operational experience in executive positions within home health, hospice and palliative care. During her decades in the field, she developed strong proficiency in fiscal management for all aspects of post-acute care while enhancing clinical outcomes for patients and the satisfaction of patients, families and agency staff. Carla has held elected office for multiple terms on the board of NAHC, the National Association for Home Care and Hospice, and is also a past Chair of the Hospice Association of America. She has deep knowledge of the provider environment in several states, and is a past chair of the New Hampshire Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, having served in the same position in both Florida and Massachusetts as well. From 2017 to 2021, she was CEO of the Hospice and Palliative Care Association of New York State.

Carla has provided leadership during multiple post-acute provider turnaround situations, improving margins and leading culture change for staff. In addition to her deep expertise in hospice and palliative care, including the operations of hospice houses, she has led other operations including private duty, Medicare certified home care, community case management, high tech nursing, and visiting physician services, and served on the board of directors at two different nonprofit CCRC communities. Having worked for both nonprofit and for-profit providers during her career, she brings the lessons in efficiency and productivity learned in the for-profit arena combined with a passion for the mission of non-profit providers.

Judi Lund Person, MPH, CHC

Judi Lund Person is one of the nation’s leading experts on hospice policy and regulation. Prior to becoming a consultant, Judi spent 21 years as Vice President, Regulatory and Compliance at the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, where she served as a key contact with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and other federal agencies. While at NHPCO, Judi developed and updated countless tools and compliance resources for hospice providers.

In addition to her work in federal regulation, Judi served for 22 years as the President and CEO of The Carolinas Center for Hospice and End of Life Care. Early in her career, Judi had the distinction of being part of the small group of advocates that worked for the passage of the original Medicare Hospice Benefit in Congress in 1982.

Judi provides expert analysis and education on all aspects of hospice compliance and regulations. She has spoken at state hospice meetings throughout the country and is matchless in both her technical expertise and engaging speaking style, turning regulations into “plain English” so that providers will understand how a change may impact their program.

The Consulting Team