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Profiles

IN LEADERSHIP

CATHOLIC HOSPICE

Barbara Slowik
Senior Director of Business Operations

Barbara Slowik joined Catholic Hospice in November
2018 as Senior Director of Business Operations. She has
over 25 years of experience in healthcare. Slowik is
responsible for managing the day-to-day business and
performance of back office operations, business process
improvement and project management, for finance, rev-
enue cycle, information technology, physician group and
other areas. As a member of our leadership team Slowik
applies her expertise in process improvement, financial
reporting, contracting, and informatics to enhance our
business operation. Slowik received her B.A. in Organizational Communications from
North Central College in Naperville, IL.

Pedro Ramos
Director of Business Development

Pedro Ramos joined Catholic Hospice in February 2019
as Director of Business Development. He has over 20 years
of sales, marketing, and management experience. Ramos
has held and served in senior business development lead-
ership roles across many industries, with expertise and
success within the healthcare sector. As a member of our
leadership team, Ramos is charged with building organiza-
tional brand awareness, increasing visibility in the commu-
nity, and establishing strategic partnerships through inno-
vative service delivery methods. Ramos received his MBA from Florida International
University and holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Western Connecticut State
University.

Patty Husted Leads

Hospice Growth in South Florida

In September 1989, Patty Husted joined VITAS®
Healthcare as a nurse in its inpatient hospice unit
in Sunrise, Florida. The hospice and palliative care
provider was barely a decade old then and, like
Patty, still charting a course through a relatively
new segment of the healthcare industry. Only five
years prior had VITAS – known then as Hospice
Care, Inc. – expanded out of Florida and into Texas
and Illinois.
In just under 30 years, Patty and VITAS would
grow together, from a hospice nurse with a
provider operating in six cities to the executive vice
president of operations at the nation’s leading
provider of end-of-life care in 14 states and the Patty Husted
District of Columbia.
VITAS’ expansion didn’t merely coincide with Patty’s advancement within the
organization. In her various roles – including national patient care administrator,
director of patient services and vice president of patient clinical services, among
over a dozen others – she has been a leader in identifying and addressing business
development opportunities, performing company-wide quality assurance and reg-
ulatory compliance, and creating new company policies and procedures that
affect patient care.
Today, Patty oversees the operation of all VITAS programs in Florida and
Georgia. Under her governance as executive VPO, VITAS has experienced espe-
cially impressive growth in South Florida, including the opening of a new inpa-
tient hospice unit at Good Samaritan Medical Center in Palm Beach, an expansion
of services throughout the Treasure Coast via a new office in Stuart, and the
approval of a new freestanding inpatient unit in southwest Miami-Dade County
scheduled to open in 2020.
“One thing you can always count on at VITAS is change, and I mean that in the
most positive way,” Patty says. “We’re always evolving. It’s a good idea to get on
board with it, because it can take you to so many places.”

20 August 2019 southfloridahospitalnews.com South Florida Hospital News