January 2024 VIRTUAL Hospice Operations Certification (Live Online)

Dr. Jennifer Kennedy is the Vice President of Quality, Standards, & Compliance. She spent many years as a leader and nurse in diverse healthcare settings with the past 25 years in hospice and palliative care.

Dr. Kennedy came to CHAP in 2021 with a vision of moving the organization’s quality forward as “the” accreditation partner of choice for the majority of community-based providers. She believes no matter what type of care a patient receives or how many times they receive care, every experience should be of the highest quality.

Kennedy leads the CHAP quality team and interacts with CMS related to regulatory and quality issues. Kennedy serves as faculty at national and state conferences, is widely published in medical trade journals, contributes to and reviews health care published materials, is a published author, and teaches graduate healthcare administration courses at the university level.

Kennedy serves as a member of the Hospice & Palliative Care Network of Maryland board of directors and has been honored by the UK’s St. Christopher’s Hospice as a Nursing Pioneer for their 2020 Palliative Care Nursing Project.

Dr. Kennedy has a Doctoral Degree in Health Care Education and Policy, a dual master’s degree in health education and Case Management, a bachelor’s degree in nursing, and is a Certified Healthcare Compliance Professional.

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.

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.

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.