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Hernando Today

Hospice President Will Retire

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By TONY HOLT

Published: June 6, 2008

HUDSON - After two decades of serving terminally ill patients and watching the center's daily census grow by more than 40 fold, Rodney Taylor said it is time to retire.

Taylor, 62, became president and chief executive officer for Hernando-Pasco Hospice in 1986. The longtime Hudson resident saw the center serve an average of 25 patients per day when he started, to more than 1,100 today.

He thinks he has reached the point where he wants to walk away from his administrative career and devote more time to his wife, whom he married a few years ago.

"We all come to a point in life when we want a change," Taylor said. "Part of our plan was to ride off into the sunset and enjoy life together. We're going to do that."

Former Brooksville Regional Hospital CEO Thomas D. Barb will take over Taylor's duties effective July 14.

"He is innovative and he is creative," said hospice spokeswoman Robin Kocher, who has worked for Taylor for nearly 16 years. "I think I can speak for everyone here when I say I've never been more challenged by an administrator."

Hernando-Pasco Hospice began nearly 25 years ago by employees at Bayonet Point Hospital in Hudson, but who lived in Hernando County. They wanted hospice services to extend across the region and not be specific to one county, Taylor said.

The agency has grown to be one of the largest nonprofit hospices in the United States, according to a media release.

In addition to the hospice, Taylor established a home healthcare agency that serves a daily average of 230 patients and a 10-bed assisted-living facility.

In 1999, he formed the HPH Pharmacy and Medical Equipment Company to alleviate the agency's dependence on Medicare and Medicaid for patients in Hernando, Pasco and Citrus counties.

The hospice is a $65 million nonprofit organization with 21 locations across the three-county region.

It was Taylor's vision to have a hospice that stressed localized care. He felt that could not be achieved with one home office.

"We wanted neighbors taking care of neighbors," he said. "We have different facilities in different locations to make sure we're providing good community care."

The agency employs 950 people and has approximately 1,200 volunteers.

With all of the hospice's services, the agency has garnered national and international attention.

Kocher recalled a time in the late 1990s when a group of healthcare workers from Thailand traveled to Florida to learn more about the hospice's daily operations.

"They took the lessons they learned and applied them back in their country," she said.

One of the biggest projects spearheaded by Taylor was the construction of the upcoming 24-suite Hospice Care Center along Cortez Boulevard in Spring Hill. It is expected to open early next year.

Local Bingo halls, country clubs and civic groups regularly hold charity events for Hernando-Pasco Hospice. Taylor appreciates them, but does not request them.

"I'm not out there aggressively to get people to do fundraisers for us," he said. "They come to us and say, 'You did a great thing for us. How can we turn around and help you?'"

He was satisfied with the HPH board's choice for his successor.

Barb has more than 30 years of health management experience and has served on the board himself since 2006. While at Brooksville Regional, he oversaw the relocation from its downtown facility to a new building along State Road 50.

"I'm very comfortable with Tom coming on board," Taylor said. "His approach to health care (fits) with our organization. He's a very good choice."

Reporter Tony Holt can be reached at 352-544-5283 or wholt@hernandotoday.com.

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