April 2023 Hospice Operations Certification (Arlington, VA/Washington, DC)

Dr.Jennifer Kennedy will lead all performance improvement activities at CHAP usingtargeted indicators of patient-centered performance and care. In addition, shewill also design, revise, and develop our CHAP Standards of Excellence.

In herprevious role, she has served as the Senior Director of Quality &Regulatory for the National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization and hasbeen with the organization since 2006. She has more than 35 years of experienceas a leader and nurse in diverse healthcare settings and has worked in hospiceand palliative care for the last 20+ years.

She has a doctoral degreein health care education and policy, a dual master’s degree in health educationand case management, a bachelor’s degree in nursing, and is a certifiedhealthcare compliance professional.

Jennifer led the NHPCOhospice quality team and interacted with CMS and their contractors related tohospice regulatory and quality issues. She is also a member of the ANA’snational palliative nursing task group and has been honored by the UK’s St.Christopher’s Hospice as a Nursing Pioneer for their 2020 Palliative CareNursing Project.

“Our patient-centered,partner-focused philosophy is most important at the intersection of our qualityimprovement implementation and research, and our standards of excellence. Weare excited to add Dr. Kennedy to the team and know that her leadership and experiencewill enable us to continue to advance quality patient-centered care.” – NathanJ. DeGodt, President & CEO

Jennifer serves as facultyat national and state conferences, writes articles for the trade journals,contributes to and reviews health care publisher materials, and develops educationand resources for hospice and palliative care providers. She also teachesGraduate Health Care Administration courses at the university level.

Vice president of Learning Solutions, Jan Sweat comes to CHAP with over 25 years of experience in healthcare, with a focus in the post-acute industry. For nearly two decades, she worked for Kindred at Home in sales, sales leadership, operations, and talent development.   

Prior to joining CHAP, Sweat directed the education and success of tens of thousands of healthcare professionals in Hospice, Home Health, and Palliative Care nationwide. In addition to her classroom impact, she spent several years as a growth strategist connecting corporate strategy to field implementation and interim area management. These roles equipped her with a unique perspective to solve provider problems with robust solutions.    

After graduating from North Georgia College and State University earning a degree in Sociology with a minor in Psychology, she served as a case manager in a metro Atlanta hospital and a nursing home social service director for several years, where she supported countless patients and families.

Denise Stanford is passionate about the impact of education and training on quality improvement in healthcare. As someone who has utilized community-based healthcare services for loved ones, she understands the importance of high-quality care and services.

Denise personally experienced how education and training can transform an individual’s life and the lives of those they touch. Denise has been working as an educator in community-based healthcare for nearly a decade. She greatly enjoys creating learning experiences that engage learners and teach real-time skills that can be immediately applied on the job. Her master’s degree in adult learning has allowed her to work on the development of workshops and e-learning for healthcare professionals, focus on training for community members, and serve as an adjunct professor working with first-time college students. In her role at CFE, she helps craft meaningful learning experiences and oversees the operation of the department.

Bill Taylor is a North Carolina based CPA who learned Hospice and Home Health at MVI where he led the consulting division for many years. He started his professional life as Journalism major at the University of Tennessee and later gravitated toward accounting after running a newspaper plant for several years. Semi-retired, Bill now does the occasional project for MVI, processes Medicare Cost Reports and teaches for CHAP.

Bill also serves on the NHPCO Finance and IT Steering Committee.