House Passes Package, Gerald's Law Included This week, the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act (H.R. 8371) passed the House by an overwhelming majority. This bill included a provision based on Gerald's Law (H.R. 234 / S. 1330), impacting Veterans who elect hospice care outside of a Veterans Affairs (VA) facility. Under current law, many Veterans who pass away outside of a VA facility while receiving VA-furnished hospice care do not receive their full burial benefits, as their passing is not considered a "death under VA care." This error must be fixed so that all Veterans have equal access to burial benefits, no matter where they receive end-of-life-care. This is a huge step in fixing a grave injustice for Veterans and their families in hospice care. Now, the Dole Act must pass the Senate, with the Gerald's Law provisions included. ACT NOW to tell Congress that Veterans deserve to make critical end-of-life care decisions based on comfort, not cost.

Support Veterans

Action: Fix the Hospice Special Focus Program

CMS plans to carry out a program based on bad data that will fail patients and providers. The Hospice Special Focus Program (SFP) is based on incomplete data that will misinform patients and families with inaccurate hospice performance rankings. The bipartisan Enhancing Hospice Oversight and Transparency Act (H.R. 10097) will delay the SFP and allow CMS time to fix the program, preventing great harm to patients, families, and providers. The Hospice Special Focus Program calculates and ranks hospice providers through survey data and quality reporting. But these calculations rely on missing quality data and out-of-date  surveys. This risks inaccurate hospice rankings and threatens to misinform patients and families. H.R. 10097 will prevent great harm to patients and providers by delaying the hospice SFP until surveys are up-to-date and will increase penalties for providers who withhold quality data. ACT NOW to urge Congress to support H.R. 10097 and ensure that millions of patients and families get the right information at the most crucial time.

Protect Patients

Health Policy and Advocacy

Take Action on Extending Telehealth Services!

https://aahpm.org/advocacy/take-action/

PAHPM is happy to announce this year’s recipient of the Eva Dimitrov, MD & PAHPM Student Scholarship: Sabrina Leonard.  Sabrina attends the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Physician Assistant Program in Little Rock, AR. Our Scholarship review committee had a difficult task this year reviewing several applications from some fantastic PA students. Sabrina was able to rise to the top of that group.

The Next PAHPM Student Scholarship cycle will open in June of 2025. Please read more about the scholarship, its mission, and how to give this gift-giving season a tax-deductible gift of further palliative medicine in the PA profession. Just click on the link here for the PAHPM Student Scholarship.

As we celebrate PA Week, we want to take a moment to express our heartfelt gratitude for the incredible work you do every day. Your commitment to patient care, education, and the greater good in palliative care makes a profound difference in the lives of so many.

Your expertise, compassion, and dedication to our specialty is truly inspiring. Thank you for all your hard work and the positive impact you have on our community.

Wishing you a wonderful PA Week!

Dear Members,

I am honored to address you as the newly appointed President of Physician Associates in Hospice & Palliative Medicine (PAHPM). Jeanine Smith (Past President), Tracey Piparo (President Elect), and I will work as a trifecta Presidential role and look forward to working with you as we embark on this journey together. I am deeply inspired by the collective expertise, dedication, and passion that define our organization, our profession, and our specialty.

Our mission has always been to advance education to PAs about the field, improve understanding on the scope of practice of what PAs bring to our field, advocate for PA inclusion in palliative and hospice care guidelines and legislation, and support our members in their professional endeavors. In the coming months, I am committed to fostering an environment of collaboration and innovation. We will continue to build on our strong foundation, exploring new opportunities for growth and addressing the evolving challenges within our field.

I encourage each of you to engage actively with our initiatives, share your insights, and contribute to the dialogue that drives our success. Together, we will achieve new milestones and continue to advance forward in the changing landscape of palliative care.

Thank you for your unwavering commitment and support. I look forward to working alongside you to make a meaningful impact on our profession and our specialty.

Best,

Ryan Baldeo, MPAS, MSPC, PA-C, FAAHPM
President, Physician Associates in Hospice & Palliative Medicine (PAHPM)

Dear Palliative Care Colleagues –

The Palliative Care Catalyst Network is a new organization committed to energizing, educating, empowering and engaging interprofessional team members to cultivate, elevate, and highlight their contributions to individuals with serious illness.

We believe all team members should be recognized as everyday leaders who possess creative ideas and skills to improve the delivery of care to persons with serious illness.

Our goal is to harness that creativity and diversity of thought through a community focused on all interprofessional team members.

In order to best strategize the most useful activities for palliative care professionals, we are sending out a survey to discover the current landscape of care professionals who are on the frontlines. We are starting with physician assistants/associates and spiritual care professionals since there are the least opportunities for them.

Please take a moment to complete this survey of 9 questions at this link or put the link below in your browser: https://tinyurl.com/pccnsurvey

Listening Sessions

At the end of the survey, you can register for times that we are doing listening sessions to hear from the field or use this link https://tinyurl.com/pccnlisteningsessions.

Please join us for one of the following sessions: 

September 2024

·         Tuesday, September 17th at 1-2 pm PT/2-3 pm MT/3-4 pm CT/4-5 pm ET (Patrick Coyne & Connie Dahlin)

·         Wednesday, September 18th at 1-2 pm PT/2-3 pm MT/3-4 pm CT/4-5 pm ET (Katy Hyman & Ryan Baldeo)

October 2024

·         Tuesday, October 22 1-2 pm PT/2-3 pm MT/3-4 pm CT/4-5 pm ET (Patrick Coyne & Connie Dahlin)

·         Wednesday, October 23  1-2 pm PT/2-3 pm MT/3-4 pm CT/4-5 pm ET (Katy Hyman & Ryan Baldeo)

 We look forward to hearing from you!

The Palliative Care Catalyst Network Board

Ryan Baldeo, MPAS, MSPC, PA-C, FAAHPM

Patrick Coyne, MSN, ACNS-BC, ACHPN, FPCN, FAAN

Connie Dahlin, MSN, ANP-BC, ACHPN, FPCN, FAAN

Katy Hyman, MDiv, BCC

Quentin Robertson, DNP, FNP-BC

PALLIATIVE CARE ADVANCED PRACTICE PRADVANCE YOUR EDUCATION TO THE NEXT LEVEL!

Be part of the solution for access to quality palliative care.

The Palliative Care Advanced Practice Provider Externship is a week-long immersion course, geared towards the practice of Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) and Physician Assistants (PAs). The course content includes principles of care, pain and symptom management, communication, program development, quality metrics, as well as specific leadership and professional development. Following a virtual training course, cohort members will participate in an in-person clinical experience at MUSC in Charleston, SC. The program is targeted for novice APPs, or APPs seeking a course to update their skills.

Eligibility

Advanced Practice Registered Nurses in any role or setting (Clinical Nurse Specialist, Nurse Practitioner, Nurse Anesthetist, Nurse Midwife)

Physician Assistants in any role or setting

Student enrolled in an APRN or PA program (*Students must have completed over 50% of clinical requirements)

2024 Externship Dates

3 Day synchronous Virtual Trainings (via Microsoft Teams) – choose 1 session

June 24-26, 2024

2 Day Clinical Mentoring Experience with MUSC Palliative Care Clinical Team in Charleston, SC

Dates adapted to Extern’s needs and determined after acceptance

Cost: Total of Program

$2600 Tuition Fee paid directly to MUSC upon acceptance
*tuition does not include travel, room and board for 2 day clinical experience

For more information, contact:

Constance Dahlin, MSN, ANP-BC, ACHPN, FPCN, FAAN  

Palliative APP Externship Co-Director

 aprneducation@gmail.com 

Or Medical University of South Carolina College of Nursing

 conappexternship@musc.edu 

https://nursing.musc.edu/admissions/our-programs/palliative-care/education/app-externship

Provider survey on the role of palliative care in rheumatology

WHO: APPs, attendings, and fellows are invited to take the survey  

WHAT: a provider survey to better understand the perspectives of palliative care providers like you on the role of palliative care in rheumatology 

WHY: morbidity & mortality in patients with rheumatic disease is high, and despite this, very few patients with rheumatic disease are referred to palliative care. We are hoping to understand if and how we should incorporate care for patients with rheumatic disease into palliative care practices. 

How can YOU help: complete this survey! It takes <5 minutes and your responses will be invaluable in making sure the palliative care provider perspective is well represented across different practice sites and geographic areas. 

Thank you in advance! Please reach out to Shannon Herndon (shannon.herndon@duke.edu) or Chris Jones(christopher.a.jones@duke.edu) with any questions.

*This study has been determined exempt by Duke IRB (Pro00114459).

 

Access the survey via the QR code on the left

OR 

Go to this web address: https://redcap.duke.edu/redcap/surveys/

And enter the code: AX3K79MLN

 

PAs in PMHC have not only increased their presence clinically in the nation, but recently has been more consistently involved in nationally recognized podcasts, interviews, research, and educational initiatives further expanding our footprint in the specialty and positively representing the PA profession. AAHPM  announced the first PA to have received fellowship designation of their academy (FAAHPM); Ryan Baldeo, MPAS, MSPC, PA-C, FAAHPM—Congrats Ryan! PAs identified as practicing in PMHC as of the NCCPA 2022 Annual Report that just came out is 189 PAs total. A small increase from the 2021 data. PAHPM members are also working on developing a PMHC CAQ review text for future PAs to be better prepared to take the PMHC CAQ PAHPM member and Director-at-Large, Jack Kimball, is lead author on a paper about rural palliative medicine that was just published in the Journal of Palliative Medicine.

Our July Member Monthly Meeting is Thursday 7/27/23.

See you there!