From the founder · 2025 · ILS Press
The field guide every hospice team should have on the desk.
Disease-specific chapters. Survey-ready templates. A walkthrough of every red flag Irene has watched surveyors cite. Already used by hospice teams across the country to train clinicians and pressure-test CTIs.
Who it’s for
Written for the people who take the survey call.
Not a textbook, not a compliance primer. A working field guide for the roles that answer when the citations land.
Directors of Nursing
Clinical leaders who need CTI and IDT documentation that survives MAC review, and a plan for making it the default across the team.
QAPI & Compliance Leads
Programs that prove improvement instead of reporting it. A full QAPI design template and the metrics that stand up in a survey.
Hospice Administrators
Revenue retention, recoupment prevention, and the operating cadence that keeps a hospice out of the ADR cycle altogether.
What’s inside
Fourteen chapters. Twenty-three templates. One working system.
Built from fifteen years of chart audits, mock surveys, and post-survey debriefs.
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01
The Survey That Starts Before the Survey
Why readiness is a daily standard, not a cycle.
12 pg -
02
Terminal Eligibility Defense
Disease-specific decline documentation that holds up to a MAC reviewer.
28 pg -
03
The Certificate of Terminal Illness (CTI)
The narrative structure that turns a CTI into an evidence document.
22 pg -
04
Interdisciplinary Team Documentation
Every element the IDT record must contain, and why surveyors check each one.
18 pg -
05
Designing a QAPI Program That Proves Improvement
The full program template, plus the measures that matter.
24 pg -
06
Decline Documentation by Diagnosis
Disease-specific checklists for the ten most-cited conditions.
34 pg -
07
Bereavement & Family Documentation
The records surveyors expect, and the gaps they consistently find.
14 pg -
08
Emergency Preparedness & Competency Records
What “ready” actually looks like in a chart review.
16 pg -
09
The Ten Surveyor Red Flags You Will See
The patterns that trigger a closer look, and how to eliminate them.
20 pg -
10
Responding to a Condition-Level Deficiency
The corrective action plan template that closes findings the first time.
18 pg -
11
Building the Post-Survey Operating Cadence
How to convert a survey outcome into a twelve-month operating plan.
14 pg -
12
Staff Education That Sticks
Training that changes the next visit note, not just the next in-service.
16 pg -
13
Templates, Checklists, and Forms
Twenty-three ready-to-use documents from the ILS CARE practice.
28 pg -
14
The D.O.C.U.M.E.N.T Framework
Eight dimensions. One repeatable audit. The closing chapter.
12 pg
From the introduction
Surveyors are not looking for care. They are looking for the record of care. The gap between those two things is where hospices get cited, and where this book goes to work.
Chapter 01 · The Survey That Starts Before the Survey
Bonus materials
Included with every copy.
Templates, checklists, and reference sheets, downloadable by purchasers and editable by your team.
23 survey-ready templates
CTI narrative frames, IDT meeting templates, QAPI program forms, corrective action plans.
Disease-specific decline checklists
One-page reference sheets for the ten most-cited terminal conditions.
The 30-day survey-readiness plan
The exact cadence ILS CARE clients follow between survey cycles.
Surveyor red-flag reference card
A laminate-ready one-pager for the clinical leadership binder.
What readers say
From hospice teams already using the book.
“The only compliance book I’ve read that feels like it was written by someone who has actually been in the chart. Every template already earned its spot.”
“Chapter 6 alone was worth the purchase. The disease-specific decline checklists are now how every one of our CTIs gets written.”
“We used the 30-day readiness plan on a whim before our CHAP survey. The book pays for itself the first time.”
Get the book
Available on Amazon. Used by hospice teams across the country.
Paperback, hardcover, and Kindle editions. Bulk pricing available for agencies purchasing for clinical staff.