Blue Ridge Hospice names Jason Parsons Chief Business Development Officer

Blue Ridge Hospice has named Jason Parsons Chief Business Development Officer for the highly regarded 41-year-old mission-driven provider of serious illness and end-of-life care.

As Chief Business Development Officer, Parsons will be responsible for planning and implementing strategies to lead Blue Ridge Hospice as it navigates the ever-changing, increasingly demanding healthcare landscape. He is joining Blue Ridge Hospice at an important point in its 41-year history of identifying and meeting community need and will help guide the organization through two vital enhancements to its mission-fulfillment work. Blue Ridge Hospice recently began piloting a community-based palliative care program in a number of area nursing homes with the goal of eventually offering the service to seriously ill, non-hospice patients whether they reside in a private residence, nursing home or assisted living community. In addition, Blue Ridge Independence at Home, an affiliate, has received authorization from the Commonwealth of Virginia to open a PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) Program serving the area in and around Winchester.

Jason Parsons

Parsons specifically will serve as the organization’s senior leader in developing new business and strategic partnerships, identifying and negotiating affiliation and new payor opportunities, overseeing development of products and services, acting as a key participant in strategic planning, guiding all marketing and public relations activities, and leading Blue Ridge Hospice’s fundraising initiatives to support mission fulfillment.

“Blue Ridge Hospice, all not-for-profit serious illness providers, are at an inflection point as competition from proprietary hospice chains increases and Medicare continues to make significant changes to hospice regulation and reimbursement,” observed President and CEO Cheryl Hamilton Fried. “Jason’s breadth of experience—from business development and public affairs to communications and fundraising—are a perfect match to ensure Blue Ridge Hospice continues to meet the community’s needs by going well above and beyond the basic services mandated by Medicare.”

Parsons comes to Blue Ridge Hospice from Capital Caring Health, Falls Church, VA, where he led Public Affairs and Philanthropy for an organization that served up to 1,400 patients per day across Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia with a menu of serious illness, palliative care and hospice services. He previously served as Executive Director of Business for West Virginia in the office of the West Virginia Secretary of State in Charleston, WV, and as Executive Director of Keep Prince William Beautiful in Woodbridge, VA. Parsons also founded and led his own consultancy, Stratecess Consulting, through which he worked with organizations in the healthcare, environment and education fields to support strategic planning, organizational capacity assessment, communications, policy, and marketing initiatives.

“Blue Ridge Hospice has a unique and powerful heritage as the northern Shenandoah Valley’s original hospice provider,” Parsons stated. “The opportunity to work for an organization with such an unyielding commitment to community service and quality care, to help guide the organization through the many changes and challenges facing community-based providers is something I embrace.”

A native of West Virginia, Parsons graduated from West Virginia University with a Bachelor of Arts with an emphasis in Leadership Studies. He was twice elected Student Body President.

Parsons resides in Aldie, VA.

About Blue Ridge Hospice

Blue Ridge Hospice is a community-based, not-for-profit serious illness and end-of-life care provider that has been serving friends and neighbors across the northern Shenandoah Valley since 1981. With a mission of “brightening life’s journey with quality and compassionate care for all whom we are privileged to serve,” Blue Ridge Hospice serves Winchester City and the northern Virginia counties of Clarke, Fauquier, Frederick, Loudoun, Page, Rappahannock, Shenandoah, and Warren. Accredited by The Joint Commission, Blue Ridge Hospice consistently exceeds the national averages for quality as reported on Medicare’s Hospice Compare website. To learn more about Blue Ridge Hospice visit www.brhospice.org, or call 540-313-9200.