National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization – More Than Impeccable Accounting

(February 25, 2005)

The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) represents 3,000 hospice organizations across the United States plus 1,300 individual professional members. The purpose of NHPCO is to promote the mission, vision and standards of Hospice and Palliative Care and to promote compassionate and high quality care for the terminally ill and their families among the general public and professions. NHPCO’s Washington, DC headquarters also houses the National Hospice Foundation and manages the accounting for the New Hampshire and Georgia hospice and palliative care organizations.

Challenge: Loss of Financial Staff

According to George Figliozzi, NHPCO’s director of finance and operations, the association came to HB&P via a recommendation from an internal operations consultant that reviewed the entire financial operation.  In the beginning of the relationship, Figliozzi did not simply embrace HB&P as his outsourced accounting provider.

“We had begun losing confidence in our outsourcing relationship. In addition, we had lost most of our financial department and were unable to get out financial statements in a timely manner. We needed to get our accounting house in order fast,” said Figliozzi.

Solution:  Outsourced Accounting Services by Halt, Buzas & Powell

“Andy Powell immediately picked up the ball and ran with it, getting things in order fast,” said Figliozzi. “HB&P produced our financial statements right off the bat, standardized all our accounting operations and set up proper procedures for everything.

“And our house has stayed in order. We now have three accounting people, provided by HB&P, who are sharing two jobs, plus two people on our staff and a part-time CFO. Our situation is stable and everybody’s happy.”

One reason HB&P scored immediate success with NHPCO is their familiarity with and use of Microsoft’s Great Plains accounting software for many of their clients. While there are many accounting products that work well for associations, Great Plains has the added value of Internet accessibility.

“Our clients can access their financial statements and accounting information at any time, from anywhere,” said Andy Powell. “This 24/7 access gives all our clients, including Hospice, an extra level of confidence in our work. Although they’ve outsourced their financial management functions, they can still log in and retrieve information whenever they need it, rather than needing to contact us first.”

Continuous Improvement in Financial Management

HB&P’s work with Hospice goes well beyond producing financial statements. They have standardized all accounting operations and set up proper procedures.

“NHPCO is growing fast, and like all growing organizations, we now require a higher level of detail than even two years ago,” said Figliozzi.

“We’re working with HB&P to give us more program level reporting – cost benefit analyses on our different programs. We’ve been extremely pleased with our relationship to date, have recommended them to others, and expect we’ll be equally pleased with the program level reporting statements we’re about to begin receiving,” Figliozzi concluded.

About Halt, Buzas & Powell, Ltd.

Halt, Buzas & Powell is an accounting firm – and more.  Founded in 1969, HB&P is a full-service CPA and management consulting firm located in Alexandria, Virginia. Its partners – Steve Halt, Mike Buzas & Andy Powell – bring more than 80 years collective experience in financial management to each and every client. Their devotion to service, quality and value has led to HB&P’s being recognized by Washingtonian magazine as one of the Washington area’s top CPA firms for service, and by the Washington Business Journal as one of the Washington area’s top 50 CPA firms for size. For more information call 703-836-1350 or visit HB&P online at www.cpas4you.com.