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Home health and hospice report shows quality gains; longtime hospice director announces retirement
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Summary
Tahoe Forest’s home health and hospice leaders presented 2024 performance metrics showing above‑average quality measures, lower unplanned hospitalizations and programs such as hospice thrift stores and palliative care; hospice director Jim Sturman said he will retire in January 2026.
Tahoe Forest Home Health and Tahoe Forest Hospice staff presented their annual regulatory quality report to the board, reporting improved performance on several measures, a 5‑star home‑health patient survey summary and progress on goals to reduce unplanned hospitalizations.
Jim Sturman, director of hospice (who also oversees home health), told the board that home health served 134 unduplicated patients in 2024 and provided 3,161 individual visits, with an average length of service of about 49 days. He said the agency’s quality measures exceed state and national averages and that internal QAPI work and staff education were central to improvements. “We are above the state and national averages throughout,” Sturman said.
Sturman credited process changes and documentation updates for reimbursement increases under the Patient‑Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) and said the home‑health agency expanded revenue because it already followed diagnosis‑based care standards when other agencies were affected by PDGM changes.
On hospice, Sturman reported 38 total patients served in 2024 (including decedents and discharges) and said hospice thrift stores provide critical financial support, generating roughly $200,000 annually to offset operating pressures. He also discussed an ongoing Epic documentation issue that depressed some hospice quality‑report indicators; staff identified a drop‑down capture problem and had implemented fixes that Sturman said should raise scores on affected measures.
Sturman also described palliative care growth: a multidisciplinary palliative program led by Dr. Nicole Jernick provides symptom management, social work and home visits and is reducing hospice referrals for patients whose needs are met earlier by palliative services.
The board voted to approve the annual home health and hospice quality report without objection; the meeting record shows a 4‑0 approval. At the close of his presentation, Sturman announced his retirement effective January 2026 and reflected on a 34‑year career at the health system.
Why it matters: The report indicated measurable quality improvements for rural home health and hospice services and described programs (palliative care and thrift stores) that hospital leaders say help sustain services in a geographically dispersed service area. Sturman’s retirement will require leadership succession planning for those programs.
