CAPC National Level I / II Seminar
Innovative Solutions for Tomorrow's
Palliative Care Program

Date: October 22-24, 2009
Location: Atlanta, GA

Registration is now open for the second CAPC National Level I / II Seminar — essential operational training for hospital palliative care programs at every stage.

Every year the seminar offers new cutting-edge content and topics. Choose from a host of focused workshops, discussion sessions and breakouts that address your particular program needs, including:

• Human resources management for palliative care teams
• Maximizing billing revenue opportunities
• Strategic planning for growth
• Integrating palliative care into the ED and ICU
• Pediatric program development
• Consultation etiquette
• Calculating cost avoidance
• And much more!

The National Consensus Project (NCP) will release a second edition of the Clinical Practice Guidelines for Quality Palliative Care at the 2009 Annual Assembly of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) and the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA). First published in 2004, The Guidelines have been updated significantly to reflect the current state of the field.

At the end of March, the Clinical Practice Guidelines for Quality Palliative Care, Second Edition will be available in PDF format for free download from the NCP website. Print copies will also be available for purchase on the NHPCO website. Learn more

The Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) released new recommendations for hospital palliative care programs, which have been published as special reports in the Journal of Palliative Medicine. The reports are also accessible through the CAPC homepage at www.capc.org. These recommendations drill down and support the NCP Clinical Practice Guidelines for Quality Palliative Care, and the National Quality Forum's (NQF) A Framework for Preferred Practices for Palliative and Hospice Care Quality.

• Center to Advance Palliative Care Inpatient Unit Operational Metrics: Consensus Recommendations
• Center to Advance Palliative Care Palliative Care Consultation Service Metrics: Consensus Recommendations
• Operational Features for Hospital Palliative Care Programs: Consensus Recommendations

The American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) is offering its Clinical Scholars Program to physicians working in palliative care who are looking to gain insight into alternative delivery systems, models of care and therapies. Physicians will enhance their clinical knowledge and skills by learning best practices in caring for patients with serious, life-threatening illness. This program offers a one week observership with a clinical team under the supervision of physician faculty at the training site; 12-15 hours of faculty mentorship in the form of quarterly consults; one year of participation in discussion groups led by faculty from the training sites; and a peer network for ongoing discussion. Learn more and apply

The American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) announced that the first forty-eight fellowship programs in hospice and palliative medicine have been accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The Council approved program requirements for hospice and palliative medicine and accepted the first round of applications in 2008.
Learn more

The Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) has introduced online CME/CE courses for programs at every stage at CAPC Campus Online^TM . Courses cover the operational and financial essentials of palliative care program growth, development and sustainability including:

• Strategic Planning
• Hospital Cost Avoidance
• Billing and Coding
• Philanthropy
• Updating Your Business Plan
• And more!

The Society of Critical Care Medicine, the largest multi- professional organization dedicated to ensuring excellence and consistency in the practice of critical care, has officially endorsed the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) position statement and call to action, "Access to Palliative Care in Critical Care Settings." The document emphasizes the value of palliative care in critical care settings. View the position statement

The American Hospital Association (AHA) will grant its Award of Honor to the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC). This award is given to individuals, groups or organizations to recognize an exemplary contribution to the health and well-being of people through leadership on a major health policy or social initiative. The award will be presented to CAPC at the April 2009 AHA Annual Membership Meeting in Washington DC. Learn more

Diane E. Meier, MD, will be honored with a Clinical Excellence Award at the fourth annual Castle Connolly Medical Ltd. National Physicians of the Year Awards, which will be held on March 23, 2009. The award is designed to recognize physicians who exemplify excellence in clinical medical practice. Physicians featured in the Castle Connolly "Top Doctor" guides were involved in the nomination process to identify the recipients of the award.
Learn more

Earlier this year, the American Cancer Society created a new Palliative Care and Symptom Control Research peer review committee aimed at enhancing funding for research that focuses on the prevention and relief of suffering. The committee will accept applications for symptom control or palliative care research addressing the needs of adults or children with cancer, and their families, who are facing poor prognosis malignancies, advanced malignancies or favorable prognosis malignancies that have a high symptom burden. The committee will give preference to proposals incorporating a family-centered, interdisciplinary approach. Learn more

Archives of Internal Medicine, March 2009; Volume
169(5):480-488, Health Care Costs in the Last Week of Life, by Baohui Zhang, MS; Alexi A. Wright, MD; Haiden A. Huskamp, PhD; Matthew E. Nilsson, BS; Matthew L. Maciejewski, PhD; Craig C. Earle, MD; Susan D. Block, MD; Paul K. Maciejewski, PhD; Holly G. Prigerson, PhD.

Health Affairs, January 2009; Volume 28(1): 102-112, Inpatient Care Intensity and Patients' Ratings of their Hospital Experiences, by John E. Wennberg, Kristen Bronner, Jonathan S. Skinner, Elliott S. Fisher and David C. Goodman.

Journal Palliative Medicine, January 2009; 12(1):21-25, Center to Advance Palliative Care Palliative Inpatient Unit Operational Metrics: Consensus Recommendations, by David E. Weissman, MD, Diane E. Meier, MD, and Lynn Hill Spragens, MBA.

Journal Palliative Medicine, December 2008; 11(10):1294-1298, Center to Advance Palliative Care Palliative Care Consultation Service Metrics: Consensus Recommendations, by David E. Weissman, MD, Diane E. Meier, MD, and Lynn Hill Spragens, MBA.

Journal Palliative Medicine, November 2008; 11(9):1189-1194, Operational Features for Hospital Palliative Care Programs: Consensus Recommendations, by David E. Weissman, MD, and Diane E. Meier, MD.

National Cancer Institute Cancer Bulletin, January 13, 2009; Volume 6(1), ASCO Proposes Strategies for Oncology Workforce Shortage, by Carmen Phillips.

New England Journal of Medicine, February 26, 2009; Volume 360:849-852, Slowing the Growth of Health Care Costs — Lessons from Regional Variation, by Elliott S. Fisher, MD, MPH, Julie P. Bynum, MD, MPH, and Jonathan S. Skinner, PhD.

The Commonwealth Fund, January 28, 2009, Case Study: Proving and Then Improving the Value of Palliative Care Services at Mount Sinai Medical Center, by Vida Foubister.

U.S. News & World Report, March 9, 2009, Dying Feel Abandoned by Docs in the End, by Serena Gordon.

Palliative Care Leadership Centers^TM (PCLC) are nine leading palliative care programs that provide customized, hands-on operational training—and yearlong mentoring—for palliative care programs at every stage of development and growth.

CAPC has introduced three new types of PCLC training. Choose the type of PCLC training and mentoring that's right for you!

Learn more and enroll

2009 Training Dates:

Akron Children's Hospital
April 29-May 1
July 22-24
September 16-18
November 18-20

Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota
March 18-19
July 15-16
September 23-24
December 2-3

Fairview Health System
May 20-22
September 16-18
October 28-30

Medical College of Wisconsin
June 8-10
September 9-11
November 9-11

Mount Carmel Health System
April 30-May 1
September 17-18
November 19-20

Palliative Care Center of the Bluegrass
June 3-5
August 12-14
October 7-9
November 18-20

University of Alabama at Birmingham
April 6-8
May 4-6
August 17-19
November 2-4

University of California, San Francisco
March 16-17
May 4-5

VCU Massey Cancer Center
March 16-17
May 18-19

Many of you watch Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) videos via the CAPC website. But you can also view them directly on YouTube at the CAPC YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/wwwCAPCorg. Hear from Diane E. Meier, MD, and other leading CAPC faculty, as well as your peers from the palliative care community.

You can also direct your patients and families to watch palliative care videos geared specifically to them at the GetPalliativeCare.org YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/getpalliativecare

The Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) has announced that it has named the Journal of Palliative Medicine (JPM) as its official journal.

The interdisciplinary Journal of Palliative Medicine is the leading journal reporting on the clinical, educational, legal and ethical aspects of palliative care. It covers the development of palliative care programs around the world as well as innovation in palliative care education.

To take advantage of special CAPC JPM subscription rates:

Go to www.liebertpub.com/jpm, click "Subscribe," and enter the Group Code "CAPC" (not case sensitive). Then select the special CAPC subscription option of your choice and add it to your shopping cart. Learn more and subscribe

The Institute for Palliative Medicine, located on the campus of San Diego Hospice, California, is offering palliative care consultative and educational support through the California Palliative Care Consultation Center Hotline to communities in the state lacking palliative medicine resources. UnitedHealth Group provided a $1.2 million grant to help the institute evaluate, develop and implement the provision of consultative services by phone and internet. Physicians, nurse practitioners and clinical pharmacists caring for seriously ill patients can call the toll-free hotline at
1-888-592-2510. Learn more

Palliative Care in the Outpatient Clinic
Thursday, March 19, 2009
1:30 - 2:30 PM Eastern

Featured Speaker:
Michael W. Rabow, MD
Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine
Attending Physician, General Medicine Practice
Director, Symptom Management and Palliative Care Service
Comprehensive Cancer Center
University of California San Francisco/Mt. Zion
Palliative Care Leadership Centers^TM
San Francisco, CA

Last chance to register!

Palliative Care Team Self Care: Avoiding Burnout
Thursday, April 30, 2009
1:30-2:30 PM Eastern

Featured Speaker:
Lyn Ceronsky, MS, GNP-BC
System Director and Nurse Practitioner
Palliative Care Program
Principal Investigator, Palliative Care Leadership Centers^TM
Fairview Health System
Minneapolis, MN

Learn more and register