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Hernando-Pasco Hospice President Retires

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By TONY HOLT

Hernando Today

Published: June 7, 2008

HUDSON - After more than 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 said he wants to devote more time to his wife, whom he married a few years ago.

Thomas D. Barb, former Brooksville Regional Hospital chief executive officer, will take over Taylor's duties effective July 14.

Hernando-Pasco Hospice began nearly 25 years ago by employees at what is now Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point in Hudson 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 news release.

Home Health Care

In addition to the hospice, Taylor established a home health care 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 Co. 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.

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

It was Taylor's vision to have a hospice that stressed localized care. He said 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."

Innovative And Creative

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

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 health care workers from Thailand traveled to Florida to learn more about the hospice's daily operations.

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

He is satisfied with the hospice board's choice for his successor.

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

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