Last Visit First

CMS just proposed a 2.4% payment increase for home health in 2027. If that's the only number you take away, you're missing a lot. Tom Maxwell sits down with Jay Duty, COO at Maxwell TEC, to unpack what's actually happening underneath the headline: a temporary rate cut, a nearly $5 billion recoupment, a full case-mix recalibration, and provider enrollment changes that could put your Med...

What does it actually take to sell a home health or hospice agency, and how do you make sure you walk away with what your business is worth? Alex Veach, Partner at Agenda Health, joins Last Visit First for a conversation that covers the full arc of the healthcare M&A process, from the moment you start thinking about an exit to the day you close a deal. Agenda Health advised on roughly 25% of a...

Dementia is one of the most feared diagnoses in aging. But most of what families, caregivers, and even healthcare professionals think they know about it is incomplete. Dr. Shadi Gholizadeh, Chief Quality and Innovation Officer at TheKey, joins Tom Maxwell for a conversation that covers dementia from every angle. Prevention, care, behavior change, the one symptom our aging population is not paying...

Brian Lobley spent more than 20 years inside one of the country's largest health insurers before crossing the aisle to fix the problem he "helped create." Now as CEO of tango, he is building the infrastructure that gets patients home faster, keeps them out of the hospital, and actually rewards the agencies doing the work. Tom Maxwell sits down with Brian to break down why the post-acute system is...

Last Visit First sponsor Maxwell TEC just hit a massive milestone: their nanaCONNECT platform reached 1 million messages sent across home health and hospice. With a 31% engagement rate and a 1.3% opt-out rate, this is patient communication that actually works. In this special bonus episode, Andy O'Connell (Director of Product) and Desiree Ardoin (Senior Consultant, Product Adoption) of Maxwell...

The numbers are in — and home health care is at a turning point. In this data-packed episode of Last Visit First, host Tom Maxwell sits down with Scott Tapp (CEO, Trella Health) and Carter Bakkum (Senior Data Scientist, Trella Health) for a quarterly deep dive into what the Medicare claims data is actually telling us about the state of home health and hospice in America. Key Stats from This Episod...

Former DOJ prosecutor Jonathan Porter joins Tom Maxwell for the Season 2 premiere of Last Visit First, and the timing could not be more critical. With CMS announcing a nationwide enrollment moratorium on hospice and home health agencies and over 440 providers already suspended, every operator in the industry needs to understand what is actually happening and what to do about it. Jonathan spent yea...

Compassus CEO Mike Asselta on clinical insights, care leadership and the future of healthcare. He leads one of the nation's largest home-based care companies, 10,000 caregivers and $1.5B in integrated services. He finally sat down with Tom and did not hold back. With 31 years of healthcare leadership behind him and a platform covering home health, hospice, palliative care, infusion and private...

How do you manage a $17 billion investment firm while staying focused on meaningful clinical impact? In this episode of Last Visit First, Tom Maxwell sits down with David Schuppan, Co-President of Flagship Funds and Co-Head of Healthcare at The Vistria Group. With a career spanning over $10 billion in healthcare investments across 28 companies, David is one of the primary architects of the modern...

Most families are flying blind when it comes to aging. They think the system has their back, but Dr. Katy Lanz is here to tell us that the healthcare machine is actually built for billing, not for people. As a triple board-certified doctor who has advised CMS and helped lead one of the biggest palliative care providers in the country, Aspire Health , she knows where the cracks are because she’s sp...

"It is not a transparency tool, it is a targeting system." On April 2, 2026, CMS released the FY 2027 Hospice Proposed Rule , and the message is clear: the days of flying under the radar are over. While many are focusing on the 2.4% payment increase , Tom Maxwell reveals why that "raise" is actually just a break even point against inflation.. More importantly, he explains why t...

Is the ER where healthcare begins to fail, or just where chronic disease finally runs out of time? In this episode of the Last Visit First podcast, host Tom Maxwell sits down with Dr. Danielle Kelvas—a physician entrepreneur, medical marketing leader, and the Chief Medical Marketing Officer for Credential Network. Dr. Kelvas brings her frontline experience from emergency medicine, family medicine,...

This episode is a deep dive into the biggest technical shift in the history of home-based care. Tom Maxwell sits down with Dr. Alex Milani, the MD/MBA power-player behind Steno Health, to break down their massive new integration with HomeCare HomeBase. Documentation is the #1 reason for clinician burnout. Between the rigidity of OASIS and the hours spent "pajama documenting" at night, th...

Rich Johnson’s path to becoming a healthcare CEO began in a juvenile courtroom where a judge gave him two choices: jail or the service. Choosing the Air Force didn't just change his life; it gave him the logistical blueprint to manage a $90 million appropriation by age 18 and eventually build ViaQuest, Inc. into an integrated healthcare powerhouse. Today, Rich oversees 4,500 employees providin...

How do you turn two legacy hospice providers into a singular, "serious illness powerhouse"?Kristen Yntema didn’t start her career in a boardroom; she started as a 15-year-old unit secretary, cross-training as a nursing assistant and falling in love with the patient connection. Today, as the President and CEO of AuthoraCare Collective, she is redefining the architecture of end-of-life car...

When the high-stakes discipline of a Navy submarine officer meets the fragmentation of hospice and home health, the result is a radical "Nurse-First" philosophy that challenges every industry norm. Daniel Reese , CEO of IntellaTriage , joins Tom Maxwell to expose why the current healthcare system is failing clinicians and how to survive the coming workforce redesign. Inside the Episode:...

Is leadership in home health a calling or just a job? In this episode of Last Visit First, Tom Maxwell sits down with Dr. Heather Hodges, organizational psychologist and CEO of Hodges Group International, to discuss the "Heart Work" required to lead frontline teams in the care at home industry. Dr. Heather Hodges shares her journey from a creative professional to a leadership strategist...

Live from the Woodpecker Room at Home Care 100, Tom Maxwell welcomes a familiar face and industry star: Laura Brinkoetter, Chief Product Officer at Mosai. In this briefing, Laura discusses the evolution of Mosai—the strategic merger of Medalogix and Forcura—and how they are marrying interoperability with clinical analytics. She breaks down the "Mosai Review" product and how "hands-free" automation...

Live from HC100 in Scottsdale, Tom Maxwell sits down with longtime friend Stephen Phenneger, President and CFO of St. Croix Hospice. Stephen offers a candid look at the state of the hospice industry, from the "dot-com" energy surrounding AI to the "co-op-etition" that defines the sector. With 7,000 patients across 10 states, St. Croix remains committed to a single-vertical delivery model. Stephen...

Live from Home Care 100 in Scottsdale, Tom Maxwell sits down with Scott Levy, the Chief Government Affairs Officer for the National Alliance for Home Care at Home. In this interview, Scott pulls back the curtain on the Alliance’s unified advocacy mission following the historic NACH and NHPCO merger. He discusses the reality of "divided government" following the 2026 elections, the implementation o...

Live from the Woodpecker Room at HC100, Tom Maxwell welcomes Jason Gerard, CFO of Agape Care Group. Jason shares the remarkable growth story of Agape Care, which expanded from a single-state provider in South Carolina to serving over 6,500 patients across 10 states in just a few years. He breaks down the strategic decision to remain "hospice-only," the importance of their pediatric program ("Hands...

Live from Day 2 of Home Care 100 in Scottsdale, Tom Maxwell sits down with Kathy Ford, Chief Product Officer at Trella Health. As a premier sponsor of Last Visit First, Trella Health is at the forefront of the "data revolution." In this interview, Kathy discusses Trella’s evolution from a Medicare-dominant platform to a comprehensive data suite covering Commercial and Medicare Advantage markets. S...

Live from Day 2 of the Last Visit First podcast at the 2026 Home Care 100 Leadership Conference in Scottsdale, Charles McDonough, President and CEO of Delaware Hospice, joins the podcast to discuss the evolving definition of "community care." As the leader of the nation's first hospice in the first state, Charles isn't just leaning on legacy—he’s leaning into disruption. In this briefing, he explo...

Live from the Woodpecker Room for Day 2 of the Last Visit First podcast at Home Care 100, Tom Maxwell welcomes a true post-acute tech pioneer: Joe Randesi, CEO and Co-Founder of Element5. Joe explains why the world is moving beyond simple SaaS toward Agentic AI—digital workers that autonomously navigate EHRs, verify eligibility, and manage authorizations. He breaks down the "swivel chair" problem...

We’re closing out our "Live From HC100" series with a true industry veteran, Kurt Baumgartel, CEO of CareRing Health. Having run divisions for some of the biggest names in the space, Kurt is now focusing on perfecting the "care coordination" model for dual-eligibles in the Mid-Atlantic. In this briefing, he and Tom dive deep into the technology that has everyone at HC100 buzzing: Ambient AI. Kurt...