Learn techniques to help patients and their caregivers plan for the future, both during the early stages of a serious illness and as a disease progresses.
Learning outcomes for this course include:
Only CAPC members who are logged in can earn the following free Continuing Education Credits:
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A stepwise approach for all members of the health care team to guide care planning with patients and caregivers.
This resource provides practical samples of empathic responses to use in conversations with patients and families, as well as template responses to challenging questions. Developed by VitalTalk.
This script for care managers provides guidance and sample language to use when calling without a prior relationship to begin care planning for patients with serious illness.
List of course citations.
In this video, Kacey Boyle, RN, MSPC, leads us through an example of a goals of care conversation between a clinician and a patient.
This conversation script provides skills and techniques for conducting goals of care conversations with patients, regardless of the existing clinician-patient relationship.
In this video, Jonathan Fisher, MD, leads us through a mock conversation between a patient whose illness has progressed, and a clinician who explains the benefits of hospice care.
This communication script provides techniques for clinicians to foster meaningful conversations about hospice.
This webinar, Billing and Coding for Advance Care Planning: How to Document Services Correctly to Reflect your Productivity, examines billing for Advance Care Planning (ACP).
Toolkit with billing and coding best practices for palliative care services delivered in the hospital or the community.
Brief videos to help clinicians hold appropriate conversations with patients about the completion of the POLST form (Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment).
One-page guides with actionable tips for conversations with patients with serious illness. Free to download, print and share with others.
Physicians
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of the Medical Society of the State of New York (MSSNY) and the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC). MSSNY is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The Medical Society of the State of New York designates each session of this live activity for a maximum of 1.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ displayed per session. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to 1.25 Medical Knowledge MOC points in the American Board of Internal Medicine's (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. Participants will earn MOC points equivalent to the amount of CME credits claimed for the activity. It is the CME activity provider's responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABIM MOC credit.
As an ACCME-accredited provider, MSSNY is required to identify and mitigate relevant financial relationships of all individuals in control of CME content.
Financial relationships are relevant if the following three conditions are met for the prospective person who will control content of the education:
✓ A financial relationship, in any amount, exists between the person in control of content and an ineligible company.
✓ The financial relationship existed during the past 24 months.
✓ The content of the education is related to the products of an ineligible company with whom the person has a financial relationship.
None of the individuals in control of content have relevant financial relationships to disclose.
Minutes: 75 or 1.25 contact hours
Reviewed: 2/10/2026 | Released: 2/10/2026 | Expires: 11/19/2028
Physician Assistants
The American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) accepts credit from organizations accredited by the ACCME. Medical Society of the State of New York designates this enduring material with 1.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ as specified, which can be applied to the continuing education of Physician Assistants. Physician Assistants should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Nurses
This activity has been submitted to the Connecticut Nurses' Association for approval to award contact hours. The Connecticut Nurses' Association is accredited as an approver of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
Minutes: 90 or 1.50 contact hours
Released: 2/10/2026 | Expires: 2/10/2028
Social Workers
Center to Advance Palliative Care SW CPE #0257 is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers effective 2/10/2026 - 7/31/2027. This program has been approved for 1.25 continuing education contact hours.
Certified Case Managers
This program is approved by The Commission for Case Manager Certification (Approval # 250004222) to provide 1.25 continuing education credits to CCM® board certified case managers.
Released: 2/10/2026 | Expires: 2/10/2027
Verification of Attendance (VOA)
All users that are not eligible for continuing education will receive a Verification of Attendance certificate upon completion of the course.
How to Achieve Contact Hours: To successfully earn credit, participants must complete the entire course, receive a minimum score of 80% on the post-test (within 3 attempts), and complete the course evaluation. A printable certificate of completion or a continuing award document specific to the discipline will be awarded. If the participant does not successfully score an 80% or better within 3 attempts they must re-take the course from beginning to end.
Course Media Instructions and Additional Information
Software Requirements: CAPC’s online curriculum, tools and technical assistance are designed to be fully compatible through multiple platforms: computer, smartphone (iOS or Android) or tablet running the following web browsers: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and Microsoft Edge.
Content: Each course is comprised of interactive learning components (articles, tools, or supporting materials), video and audio. The learner will be expected to complete various interactive processes such as matching, simulated clinical decision-making, fill in the blanks, and highlighting content.
Target Audience: Each program is developed for chaplains/spiritual counselors, nurses, physicians, physician assistants, social workers, case managers, palliative care program leaders, and healthcare leaders (hospital, health system and community care).
Activity Description/Statement of Needs: CAPC’s online curriculum provides training in two critical areas. Technical assistance courses are designed to help palliative care program leaders address key challenges such as implementing palliative care in community health care settings. Clinical coursework provides fundamental training in pain and symptom management, communication, and other key skills needed to work with patients with serious illness.
Faculty Disclosures and Financial Relationships: It is the policy of CAPC to ensure objectivity, balance, independence, transparency, and scientific rigor in all CE, CNE and CME educational activities per the highest standards of ANCC and ACGME guidelines. For all courses, Faculty/Presenters/Authors/Content Reviewers/Planning Committee Members complete forms to disclose their relevant financial relationships. No relevant financial relationships were identified for any individuals with the ability to control content of the activity.
Disclaimers: The opinions expressed in the courses are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the sponsor, the educational partner, or the supporter. Please review complete prescribing information of specific drugs or combination of drugs, including indications, contraindications, warnings, and adverse effects before administering pharmacologic therapy to patients. Activities do not contain information on commercial products/devices that are unlabeled for use or investigational uses of products not yet approved.
Copyright Information: All rights reserved by the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC). No materials may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles or reviews.
Andrew E. Esch, MD, MBA.
Constance Dahlin, MSN, ANP-BC, ACHPN, FPCN, FAAN.
Consultant to CAPC
Nurse Planner, Center to Advance Palliative Care
Kacey Boyle, RN, MSPC, CHPN.
Palliative Care Specialist, The University of Vermont Medical Center
Jonathan Fischer, MD.
Palliative Medicine Specialist, Associate Consulting Professor, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Duke Health
Kesha Wall Graham, LISW-CP, ACM-SW.
Palliative Care Clinical Social Worker, Medical University of South Carolina
Brittany Chambers, MPH, MCHES.
Director, Health Equity and Special Initiatives
Sherika Newman, DO.
CAPC Peer Reviewer
Founder, Doctor in the Family, Atlanta, GA
Constance Dahlin MSN, ANP-BC, ACHPN, FPCN, FAAN.
Consultant to CAPC
Nurse Planner, Center to Advance Palliative Care
Contact information: For answers to frequently asked questions about CAPC courses and CEs, read the Online Course FAQ. For all other questions, please contact support.
Course 1 of 5
Learn best practices for having patient-centered conversations about a serious illness diagnosis. These discussions are the foundation of building a trusting clinician-patient relationship.
Course 2 of 5
Learn how to effectively discuss prognosis with patients and their caregivers to ensure understanding and set the context for decision-making.
Course 3 of 5
Learn best practices for building trust, eliciting patient values, and having patient-centered conversations about goals of care.
