Maxwell TEC is a proud sponsor of Last Visit First with Tom Maxwell, a podcast bringing leaders, innovators, and caregivers together to talk honestly about the choices shaping the future of home health and hospice.
In 2009, Heath Bartness was a 20-something nursing home administrator with an idea: hospice could be done better. His owners agreed to fund it, with one condition. He had two years to succeed, and if it didn't work out, he'd come back and run a nursing home for them. The goal was 50 patients. Today, St. Croix Hospice serves nearly 8,000 patients across 10 states and more than 100 locations, making it one of the largest hospice organizations in the country.
In this episode, Heath sits down with Tom Maxwell to talk about how St. Croix Hospice grew without losing what made it work. He tells the story of the $20 minimum wage that gave one nursing assistant an $8 raise and "changed our life." He also explains why he once called music therapy "hocus pocus," what a social worker taught him about the value of a visit, why so many families still call hospice too late, and what he'd tell CMS if he had them in a room with no lobbyists.
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