For more than 20 years, Judi served as the Vice President, Regulatory and Compliance, at the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, where she worked on hospice payment policy, Part D, survey and certification, contractor management, and program integrity functions.
She has been involved in the implementation of the HOSPICE Act with CMS, including surveyor training, enforcement remedies, and the hospice special focus program. She has also represented hospice and palliative care with the Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) addressing confusion about attending physicians, claims processing and hospice payment policy issues.
She began her career in 1980 as the Executive Director of Hospice of North Carolina, which became the Carolinas Center for Hospice and End of Life Care. In 1981, she joined other passionate hospice advocates to successfully lobby for the passage of the Medicare Hospice Benefit in Congress in 1982. She worked to prepare recommendations for the original Medicare Hospice Conditions of Participation in 1983 and the major revision in 2008, as well as participating in the Negotiated Rulemaking for the hospice wage index.