June Hospice Advocate Spotlight
Rick Kasper Joliet Area Community Hospice’s CEO
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>Joliet Area Community Hospice (JACH) is a non-profit hospice provider, serving hundreds of patients who live in the five counties in and surrounding Joliet, Ill. With all of the daily oversight, fundraising and coordination required to run such an organization, taking the time out to advocate for hospice on a regular basis may seem impossible for some. However, as a 22-year veteran in the healthcare industry who has spent nearly a decade working for hospice, JACH’s CEO Rick Kasper is a force to be reckoned with in the fight to protect and preserve access to the Medicare hospice benefit in his community.
Since he began as JACH’s CEO in 2009, Rick has become the most active Hospice Advocate through NHPCO’s Legislative Action Center (LAC). From fall 2009 to now, he has written over 150 letters to Congress and the President about the impact of Medicare reimbursement rate cuts to his hospice and community. Though constant and consistent outreach through the LAC is commendable in its own right, Rick’s efforts haven’t stopped there. He has made a concentrated effort to integrate Hospice Advocacy and advocacy education into various facets of JACH’s program, both internally and externally.
Rick takes time out during every staff and board meeting to educate his team and board of directors on the importance of hospice advocacy to their organization. He sets the stage by informing everyone – from CNAs and RNs to the executive leadership team – about the local and national legislative landscape and how it is specifically affecting JACH.
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After explaining the climate of the hospice community, he encourages them to join him in writing letters to the editor for the Joliet Herald and other local papers. Extending this effort outside of JACH’s immediate staff and board, Rick and his team have dedicated a significant portion of the organization’s quarterly newsletter to empower more than 13,000 donors, patients and families to take action by educating them on the policy issues impacting their hospice. He has even stepped up his own level of advocacy engagement this year by participating in local radio stations to discuss the impact of rate cuts on area hospices. And, in April, the zealous Hospice Advocate met with Illinois legislators to educate them about reimbursement issues JACH has been facing on the state level.
Rick is also an active member of the Illinois Hospice and Palliative Care Organization serving on the Legislative and Veterans Committee, as well as a member of the Will County Center for Economic Development serving on their Government Affairs committee. As the larger hospice community works with NHPCO Hospice Action Network to enlighten Members of Congress about the value of hospice in communities nationwide, Rick vows to not only continue, but strengthen his Hospice Advocacy efforts and that of his team. He is creating new and seizing every opportunity to educate state and federal legislators about the impact of slow reimbursement and Medicare reimbursement rate cuts on JACH and its many patients.
