CCCC In Action
CCCC Leads New Research on Patient Experience at End of Life
CCCC, in collaboration with Point Forward and The California HealthCare Foundation, is gathering information about patient/family experiences with medical decision making in the face of serious illness. To date, 18 patients/families from diverse backgrounds have been interviewed. This information will be used to help us better understand how to support people who are seriously ill. Look for more information in the future.
CCCC Takes Thinking Ahead to Community Caregivers
CCCC is conducting a series of trainings for people who provide day-to-day support for persons with developmental disabilities. The training features the Thinking Ahead workbook as a way to engage persons with developmental disabilities in advance care planning and to enable them to stay in control of their health care.
POLST in CA Featured in Journal of General Internal Medicine
CCCC is once again the subject of a peer-reviewed journal article. Our ongoing work with POLST in nursing homes is documented in Implementation of Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment in Nursing Homes in California: Evaluation of a Novel Statewide Dissemination Mechanism.
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Professional Development
Register Now! Passion, Purpose, Possibility
Register now for the 5th Annual CCCC Conference & Membership Meeting on April 9-10, 2013 in Burlingame. Martha Hayward from The Conversation Project discusses how to change where and when end-of-life conversations take place. Get the forecast for the future of palliative care from nationally-recognized expert, Mike Rabow, MD.
Get Trained in the POLST Conversation
POLST: It Starts with a Conversation, CCCC's two-day train-the-trainer course, will be held in Fresno and San Jose. Join us to learn more about POLST and the art of the having the POLST conversation. Pre-registration is required and space is limited.
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Public Policy
New California Law Supports Hospice Facilities
SB 135, authored by Senator Ed Hernandez, was recently signed into law by Governor Brown. This bill creates a specific licensing category for inpatient hospices, known as congregate living health facility hospices. For more information contact the California Hospice and Palliative Care Association.
IOM to Develop New End of Life Recommendations
The Institute of Medicine is convening an expert panel to review policy, financing and hospital practices, and recommend ways to improve end-of-life patient care. The committee begins meeting in February. The committee is co-chaired by Dr. Philip Pizzo from Stanford University School of Medicine. Other California appointees include Leonard Schaeffer from the University of Southern California, W. June Simmons from Partners in Care Foundation, Dr. Fernando Torres-Gil from the University of California, Los Angeles and Dr. Bernie Lo from the Greenwall Foundation.
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In the News
The Conversation Project Launches Public Campaign
The Conversation Project led by Pulitzer Prize winner Ellen Goodman in collaboration with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, was recently launched. Its goal is to have every person's end-of-life wishes expressed and respected. A Conversation Starter Kit is available on the website.
Year-long Cost of Dying Series Wraps Up
San Jose Mercury News reporter, Lisa Krieger, chronicled her father's final days in "The Cost of Dying." Subsequent pieces in the year-long series outlined issues in advance care planning, palliative care and use of feeding tubes in advanced dementia. Read the series here.
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Research Project Improves Care for Children with Serious Illnesses Partners for Children, a joint pilot project of the Children's Hospice and Palliative Care Coalition and the CA Department of Health Care Services, uses hospice organizations to help coordinate palliative care for children. According to a recent UCLA study, by helping to keep these children at home, the project increases the quality of life for both children and families and also results in better outcomes. In addition, the study found significant cost savings. Palliative Care in Hospitals Still Growing Palliative care in U.S. hospitals has increased for the 11th straight year, according to a new analysis by the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC). The number of hospitals with a palliative care team increased from 658 (24.5%) to 1,625 (65.7%) - a steady 148% increase from 2000 to 2010. Aggressive End-of-Life Care Common Among Dialysis Patients According to a research letter published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, nearly 80% of Medicare patients on dialysis were hospitalized in the 30 days before death and spent twice as many days in the hospital as patients dying of cancer. Only 20% of the kidney-failure patients were referred to hospice, compared with 40% of the patients dying of heart failure and 55% of cancer patients.
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People on the Move
McNeal, Moore & Shoemaker Join CCCC Board
CCCC welcomes Helen McNeal, Executive Director, Institute for Palliative Care at Cal State University San Marcos, Robert Moore, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Partnership HealthPlan of California, and Wells Shoemaker, MD, Medical Director, California Association of Physician Groups to the CCCC Board of Directors.
Voskanian Receives Cunniff-Dixon Physician Award Alen Voskanian, MD, regional medical director at VITAS Innovative Hospice Care in Torrance, received the 2013 Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Physician Award. The award recognizes physicians who have shown their care of patients to be a model of good medicine and are advancing quality end-of-life care as a basic part of the doctor-patient relationship.
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Resources
Understanding the Benefits of Palliative Care
A new guide provides hospital and health care system leaders with the knowledge and resources necessary to understand the benefits and opportunities of providing high-quality palliative care. The AHA's Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence (HPOE) initiative along with the Center to Advance Palliative Care, jointly developed Palliative Care Services: Solutions for Better Patient Care and Today's Health Care Delivery Challenges.
Schwartz Rounds Help Providers Stay Compassionate
Schwartz Center Rounds offers healthcare providers a regularly scheduled time during their fast-paced work lives to have open, honest discussions about the social and emotional issues that arise in caring for patients. Over 275 hospitals and clinics across the country currently offer Rounds. For more information about bringing Schwartz Rounds to your institution, visit the Schwartz Center website or contact Pat Forman, who is working with California hospitals and clinics to implement Rounds.
New Online Advance Care Planning Tool
With straightforward language and videos, concrete examples and simple step-by-step instructions, the PREPARE website developed by UCSF geriatrician Rebecca Sudore, MD, helps older adults think about what is important to them and then talk to their families and healthcare providers about their end-of-life wishes.
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Education
Language Lessons: Palliative Care Training for Interpreters
A self-paced web-based course helps prepare experienced medical interpreters to work in palliative care settings. The course is appropriate for interpreters of all languages
Sponsors: Health Care Interpreter Network in conjunction with the California HealthCare Foundation
Date: On demand
Cost: $35
Click here for more information.
Improving the Quality of Spiritual Care as a Dimension of Palliative Care
A conference designed to improve the delivery of spiritual care in palliative care by highlighting the work of nine Archstone demonstration projects.
Sponsor: City of Hope
Date: March 6-7, 2013
Cost: $145
Click here for more information.
Growing Continuum Conversations This conference explores breaking down barriers inhibiting optimal care delivery at all points in the care continuum by linking providers with supportive care models in California and across the nation.
Sponsor: Hospital Association of Southern California
Date: February 26, 2013
Cost: $150
Click here for more information.
The Palliative Care Medical-Legal Partnership
In this audio conference, learn about innovative "Palliative Care - Medical Legal Partnerships" where palliative care teams partner with pro bono lawyers to ensure patients and families have access to expert legal assistance for health-related legal concerns.
Sponsor: Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC)
Date: Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Cost: $99
Click here for more information.
End-of-Life Care Seminar for Chinese Americans
This seminar, presented in Mandarin, provides an opportunity for Chinese Americans to learn about end-of-life care. Learn about end-of-life needs and the available healthcare options for Chinese American patients and family members to ensure they receive quality care
Sponsor: Herald Cancer Care Network
Date: Saturday, March 2, 2013
Cost: Free
For more information call (408) 986-8584.
Compassion in Action
Gather with end-of-life professionals from throughout California to reinvigorate your spirit of compassion and learn about best practices and dealing with challenges.
Sponsor: Hospice of the Vallley and the Santa Clara University Department of Counseling Psychology
Date: Thursday, March 28, 2013
Cost: $125
Click here for more information.
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Newsletters are available on the CCCC Website (www.CoalitionCCC.org) in PDF format for anyone who is having trouble reading this email version. |
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