Big Bend Hospice, Inc. (BBH), the areas hometown hospice since 1983, announced the promotion of Fran Bell to Chief Compliance Officer. She will have the primary responsibility for managing the organization’s risks and ensuring the business operations are performed in compliance with state and federal laws.
“Fran has been a key part of our proactive approach in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Bill Wertman, CEO of BBH. “She has a talent of focusing on details, researching regulations, and clearly communicating with the staff on the guidelines they must follow to ensure BBH stays in compliance.”
Bell is a life-long resident of Florida and graduated with her BSN from Florida State University in 1996. She worked in psychiatric home health and an inpatient behavioral health unit for eleven years before joining BBH in 2007.
She initially provided nursing care to hospice patients in a home setting and obtained her Certification in Hospice and Palliative Nursing (CHPN). In 2009, Bell was the recipient of the Carol Pluchino-Jaffe Award of Nursing Excellence. Later, she became the Infection Control Nurse and is currently the Chair for the National Partnership for Hospice Innovation (NPHI) QI Forum.
As BBH’s Chief Compliance Officer, Bell, and her Department protect the organization by managing risks through identification and advisement in order to minimize, resolve, or circumvent significant risks. Risk management is addressed through attaining federal and state regulatory requirements, monitoring and achieving internal goals; reporting outcomes through the Quality Assurance, Performance Improvement (QAPI) Committee; conducting Organizational Performance Improvement (OPI) Plans; maintaining effective communication; and adherence to organizational policies, procedures, the Code of Ethics, and the Code of Conduct. Additionally, related training, education, oversight, and legal means are also under the purview of this position and department.
“I have a passion for accuracy, honesty, dependability, goal attaining and risk mitigation or risk avoidance,“ said Bell. “I am proud to work with an organization that has consistently striven to attain excellence in patient care and every other aspect of Hospice.”
