Hospice of Health First Inc

What it reported doing in 2024

Hospice of health first, inc. (hhf) provides comfort care to the terminally ill and their families with a comprehensive array of services, focusing on pain control and symptom management across the healthcare continuum (hospital, home, nursing home, and assisted living facilities), as well as educational and bereavement programs to enhance the coping abilities of families. Hhf includes a field program, the william childs hospice house, the cape canaveral hospital inpatient unit, and robust bereavement services.in fiscal year 2024, hhf provided 97,973 days of care, serving a total of 4,930 individuals (patients and their families). The admission team processed 2,753 referrals and admitted 1,699 patients. For the first year since the pandemic, volunteer services returned to full swing. Not only did hospice of health first onboard many new volunteers, but combined, the volunteers gave more than 9,590 hours of their time to assist hospice patients, families, and staff during fy24. Major program accomplishments include:1. Hhf became the first and only hospice agency in the state of Florida to achieve a 5-star rating from the centers for medicare & medicaid services (cms). In august of 2021, cms announced that all hospice agencies would begin receiving a star rating system based on their cahps survey results, and ever since then, the quality and clinical teams at health first were laser-focused on that goal. They achieved this prestigious ranking by putting measures in place over several years, ensuring families understood how to care for their loved ones and making sure they were visited frequently during their last days of life, when the burden of taking care of a family member on hospice care is the most stressful and emotional.2. The bright star center for grieving children and families expanded their offerings to the community during fy24. Part of the comprehensive grief and bereavement services offered at hhf, bright star is a peer-to-peer program designed to help children process the loss of a loved one alongside other children going through similar situations. This team went outside of the box and implemented several new programs, such as week-long summer camp, potluck get-togethers over the holidays, and hosting a "faces of grief" picasso-themed art night for the whole family.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 83%; rating input score 83
• Program expense ratio: 91.1%; rating input score 91
• Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
  • Compensation committee: Missing
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
  • Written employment contract: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Missing
  • Board or committee approval: Missing
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: Limited
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 71.4%; rating input score 71; 12th percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Fail
  • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 6.4%; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 7.21; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.21; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 5.9%; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 3.2% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 1.3% per year; rating input score 100; 17th percentile among comparable filings