Hospice Compliance Partners

10/01/2026

⚠️ Louisiana Hospice HR Alert: Background-Check Changes

Louisiana background-check requirements change effective October 1, 2026.

Act 802 revises requirements affecting nonlicensed healthcare workers, including:

🔹 Who is considered a nonlicensed healthcare worker
🔹 Disqualifying criminal offenses
🔹 Employer documentation requirements
🔹 Limited temporary or conditional employment while certain records remain unresolved

Beginning October 1, a background check containing possible arrest information must also be resubmitted for fingerprint-based verification.

Important: This does not mean every applicant must automatically receive an FBI fingerprint check.

Louisiana State Police is also adding $3 to federal background-check requests.

Hospice HR teams should:

✅ Update hiring and background-check policies
✅ Review the disqualifying-offense matrix
✅ Update personnel-file checklists
✅ Review staffing-agency contract language
✅ Train HR staff on when fingerprint verification is required

Hospice Compliance Partners helps agencies turn regulatory changes into practical policies, training and audit-ready documentation.

📞 (985) 334-5997
📧 [email protected]
🌐 hcpartners360.com

10/01/2026

⚠️ Hospice Billing Alert: Planned Palmetto Claims Hold

Beginning October 1, 2026, Palmetto may temporarily hold hospice claims with dates of service on or after October 1 during the FISS quarterly release.

Claims may appear under:

🔹 Reason code: 36452
🔹 FISS location: SMHOSP

Palmetto expects to release the affected claims by October 14 and anticipates that payments will remain within normal processing timeframes.

Hospice Notices of Election are not included in the hold and should continue to be submitted normally.

What hospices should do:

✅ Alert billing and finance staff
✅ Monitor claims in SMHOSP
✅ Do not cancel or submit duplicate claims solely because of the hold
✅ Prepare for a possible short-term cash-flow delay

Need help translating Medicare updates into workable billing and compliance processes? Contact Hospice Compliance Partners.

📞 (985) 334-5997
📧 [email protected]
🌐 hcpartners360.com

10/01/2026

Are you ready?

08/25/2026

🎉 One Year of Hospice Compliance Partners! 🎉

One year ago, Shanon Chehardy and Demetria Ally, BSN, RN, founded Hospice Compliance Partners with a shared vision and more than 40 years of combined healthcare experience, bringing together Shanon’s executive, operational, regulatory, and compliance expertise with Demetria’s clinical leadership, quality, and compliance expertise.

We built HCP around a simple belief: hospice can be compliant and profitable without losing sight of what matters most, the patient. Strong compliance and sound operations should strengthen quality of care, preserve dignity, honor individual wishes, and support the best possible end of life experience for patients and their families.

What a first year it has been! 💙💚

We’ve had the privilege of partnering with hospice agencies across multiple regions and working alongside owners, governing boards, administrators, compliance officers, clinical leaders, and frontline teams to strengthen compliance, quality, and operations.

Year One highlights:

💚 500+ compliance audits completed
💚 100+ ADR submissions with a 98% pass rate
💚 Improved quality scores and performance metrics
💚 QAPI development and implementation
💚 Survey preparation and Plans of Correction
💚 Policies, procedures, job descriptions and workflows
💚 Onboarding, education and training programs
💚 Tracking, trending and compliance oversight

But the numbers only tell part of our story. We are most proud of the relationships we’ve built and the opportunity to help hospice organizations become stronger, more confident, and better prepared to care for patients and families when it matters most.

To every client and partner who trusted us, supported us, believed in our vision, and welcomed us as part of your team, thank you. We are incredibly grateful to work alongside you and be part of your mission.

Here’s to Year Two. We’re just getting started! 💙💚

Expert Guidance. Practical Solutions. Better Care.

[www.hcpartners360.com]
(http://www.hcpartners360.com)

06/04/2026

What if creating a Hospice Plan of Care was actually simple?

Many nurses think of the Plan of Care as another documentation requirement. In reality, it’s the roadmap that guides everything we do for a patient and family.

Keep it simple:

✅ Identify the problem
✅ Set a goal
✅ Plan the interventions
✅ Assign responsibility

Every symptom, concern, goal, and intervention should tell the story of how the hospice team is helping the patient live as comfortably and meaningfully as possible.

The best Plans of Care aren’t the longest.

They’re the ones that clearly answer:
• What is happening?
• What are we trying to achieve?
• What are we going to do?
• Who is responsible?

A strong Plan of Care keeps the entire IDG focused, coordinated, and patient-centered.

Remember: The Plan of Care isn’t paperwork. It’s the patient’s roadmap.

💙 Hospice Compliance Partners
🌐 HCPartners360.com

06/01/2026

Make sure those Emergency Plans are updated and agency contact information is accurate with your state and parish/county emergency officials. All staff and contracted facilities should be scheduled for an inservice on your plan! Need help? Just give us a call!

06/01/2026

05/28/2026

Today is a good day for Louisiana hospice nurses.

Governor Jeff Landry has signed legislation that specifically recognizes Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) as healthcare professionals whose firsthand observations may be relied upon by a coroner when making a medical pronouncement of death.

Effective August 1, 2026, LPNs join RNs, physician assistants, EMTs, and coroner investigators as professionals whose observations may be used to support the pronouncement process.

This change reflects the critical role LPNs play every day in caring for patients and families at the end of life. Louisiana hospice LPNs are often among the healthcare professionals most familiar with a patient's condition and final days, making this a meaningful and practical update to state law.

We appreciate the recognition of the valuable contributions LPNs make to hospice and healthcare throughout our state.

Effective August 1, 2026.

05/06/2026

Happy National Nurses Week to the professionals who continue to be the foundation of healthcare every single day.

The 2026 theme, The Power of Nurses, reflects what we witness daily throughout healthcare and hospice operations. Nurses lead with clinical judgment, compassion, resilience, and an unwavering commitment to patient care during life’s most critical moments.

Their impact reaches far beyond bedside care. Nurses advocate for patients and families, guide interdisciplinary teams, strengthen compliance and quality outcomes, and provide stability during some of the most difficult transitions people experience.

Today, we recognize and appreciate the dedication, professionalism, and strength nurses bring to healthcare every day. Thank you for the work you do, the lives you touch, and the difference you continue to make in our communities.