Since joining CAPC in 2015, Snowline has utilized CAPC’s numerous tools to educate our staff and our community. All of the courses have helped to strengthen our clinician’s skillset in both our home-based and hospital-based palliative care programs. The state of the art technology and content have replaced our previous online training format, and staff report that the courses are helpful and applicable to their practice Snowline Hospice and Supportive Care, Tipping Point Challenge Winner
After gaining leadership engagement in palliative care with the approval to purchase CAPC membership, leaders were eager to leverage this product. With our palliative care team’s close relationship with the hospitalist group, we were able to integrate CAPC modules as part of the hospitalist provider quality metric bonus incentives. Then we worked with internal medicine residency program, the emergency department, geriatrics, and cardiology which implemented this on a smaller scale. CAPC modules are the first education tools that we recommend to anyone who shows an interest in palliative care or serious illness management. Disciplines have included nursing, social work, care management, spiritual care, physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, etc. We hope to engage critical care and ambulatory providers next! Cone Health, Tipping Point Challenge Honor Roll recipient
In response to the growing needs in our community, the UPMC Cole Home Health and Hospice nurses were seeking more in-depth education on caring for individuals with serious illness. The learning modules provided by CAPC allowed our nurses the opportunity to educate themselves as part of their annual education all the while enhancing their knowledge of symptom management and disease progression. The modules were assigned and the staff was able to complete them at their convenience. I believe this education improved their ability to manage symptoms and control pain for our palliative patients thus improving their quality of life. UPMC Cole Home Health and Hospice Services, Tipping Point Challenge Honor Roll recipient
Our facility had recognized the need for further education on palliative care being provided, for improving the quality of life for the patients and residents. Becoming members of CAPC provided staff with the educational modules to improve communication techniques for discussing patient and resident wishes – for symptom control of their conditions as well as advance directive conversation. The modules provided insight on pain management to address symptoms without fear of addiction, which was a relief for the nursing and medical staff, and patients and residents. Discussions between disciplines about the Tipping Point Challenge and CAPC modules was engaging, and improved participation in ongoing education. Van Duyn Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing, Tipping Point Challenge Honor Roll recipient
Our team at Optum provides palliative care services through a variety of programs including telephonic, in home, and clinical based. We have clinicians with variable skills in palliative care. Our commitment to high quality palliative care starts with our onboarding and using the CAPC courses as part of the curriculum. Every new clinician is required to complete CAPC courses in serious illness communication, disease management (heart failure, COPD, dementia), and others. This ensures everyone starts with a strong foundation for providing the best care possible to our seriously ill patients across the country. ProHEALTH/Optum Supportive Care, Tipping Point Challenge Honor Roll recipient
We engaged clinical directors and clinical team leaders by sharing the benefits of the CAPC courses in person and then via email, encouraging them to share and promote this valuable resource with their teams. Subsequent to that, initially each month the directors were informed of our monthly reports, which initially did not show that our staff were taking advantage of the resource. They were encouraged to continue to promote use with their team leaders. As more and more of our staff began utilizing the resources we celebrated with positive and appreciative emails. Additionally, some teams made it mandatory part of their orientation plan. Hospice of the Western Reserve, Tipping Point Challenge Honor Roll recipient
Palliative Care Leadership at Moffitt Cancer Center has sought to develop the department according to evidence-based standards and national guidelines that define excellence in our field. As such, we have been recognized by The Joint Commission with Advanced Certification in Palliative Care. Certification requires orientation and continuing education for interdisciplinary team members to build and demonstrate knowledge and skills in the domains of quality palliative care. As we worked to maintain certification, CAPC was identified as an ideal resource for online modules to support our perpetual learning and best practice.
To foster competencies, we set expectations for our advance practice professionals and fellows to complete CAPC courses. The participants touted the engaging and excellent content. As this feedback was shared among interdisciplinary team members, social workers and chaplains also took these courses, soon making CAPC course completion a standard for palliative care team members and all other Moffitt outpatient social workers. The courses also became a routine part of our onboarding protocol for each new teammate. To encourage primary palliative care delivery by non-specialists, we enthusiastically promoted utilization of CAPC resources by all clinicians at our center. We ensured access via our ongoing CAPC institutional membership and also touted the benefits of obtaining specific CAPC Designations. The value was clearly recognized and CAPC Designations were adopted as criteria for professional advancement of registered nurses and advance practice professionals throughout Moffitt. Over time, Moffitt Oncology researchers seeking funding for studies regarding palliative care in oncology have been advised by grant reviewers to bolster their palliative care credentials. Completion of CAPC courses helped to demonstrate competency in the field and obtain grants. The tipping point challenge spurred further course completion throughout the center. We are grateful to CAPC and The John A. Hartford Foundation for sponsoring the challenge to help palliative care and oncology teammates enhance their knowledge and skills to deliver the highest quality cancer care to those most in need. Moffitt Cancer Center, Tipping Point Challenge Winner
We integrated the CAPC modules into our APN and SW onboarding and also encouraged all of our >50 providers to register on the CAPC website and complete the education. AMITA Rainbow Hospice and Palliative Care, Tipping Point Challenge Honor Roll recipient
Our organization has embraced the CAPC online education offerings by using them to assist in enhancing our clinical competence. We have incorporated the education in our standard orientation and onboarding processes for our hospice and palliative care physicians, advanced practice nurses and physician assistants. In addition, we have utilized the education in the home based palliative service clinician training programs. We have encouraged our palliative clinicians to work towards the specific educational certifications offered by CAPC as well. We have also utilized the class / webinar education for specific topics. SCL Health – Lutheran Hospice and Palliative Care, Tipping Point Challenge Honor Roll recipient
We sent monthly reminders to all staff to complete modules, used the tracking report to monitor and update our staff and reported monthly to the Palliative Care team. Most of all having the conversation whenever we could, stressing the many benefits of completing the modules. As part of a grant project to bring palliative care to rural areas in North Dakota, we developed a team and action plan. Completing CAPC courses is part of our action plan so we send monthly reminders to staff, use the tracking reports, and report on progress each month at our palliative care meetings. McKenzie County Healthcare Systems, Tipping Point Challenge Honor Roll recipient
We engaged hospital leadership and all health care providers in the importance of palliative care education to better serve our patients with serious illness. We educated the staff on the CME availability through CAPC, and the courses on difficult conversations were placed in their “Net Learning”, which are required and highly suggested to be completed by the end of 2019. Also nursing designed a “friendly competition” – the most courses completed by a unit received a pizza party. Butler Health System, Tipping Point Challenge Winner
In 2019 the Coler team worked to strengthen and improve our palliative care program. It started with revamping our palliative care policy and palliative care plan. The largest component was staff education. As the CMO, I started with small education sessions with each department. At each session, I had a handout with screen shots and details of how to create a user name and password for CAPC. The Coler team was eager to complete more learning modules in CAPC once they completed the first module and realized the ease of use. They were also encouraged by the wealth of information and how the knowledge helped with their daily patient encounters. Coler Rehabilitation and Nursing Care Center, Tipping Point Challenge Winner
As an organization, we are very engaged in matters relating to the care of a frail and elderly population. The educational and professional development tools on CAPC have functioned as a true catalyst for that mission. Multiple departments and individuals in our organization have gone on to think critically and implement programs on how to care for older patients with dementia, those combatting loneliness, or those with end stage comorbid illnesses. CareMore Health, Tipping Point Challenge Winner
OSF HealthCare Saint Luke Medical Center is 25 bed Critical Access Hospital located in rural central IL, about 1 hour from tertiary care, with a strong mission of serving all those with the greatest care and love- The mission that our staff have chosen to partner with the Sisters of the Third Order of St Francis. Because of our strong faith and value of community we knew we needed to better serve those needing palliative care, as palliative care resources were not yet available in our rural community. Our systems Supportive Care Council reached out to all system hospitals, reviewed the CAPC resources with us, and challenged us to encourage our mission partners and providers to complete education. We spent time visiting departments discussing the importance, recruited Palliative Care Champions, set target dates, and reported completion rates. The most important thing that we did was tell stories of how the palliative tactics could impact our patients and their families — by sharing these stories, we were able to recruit many more. We recognized those that completed the education and celebrated our reward! OSF HealthCare Saint Luke Medical Center, Tipping Point Challenge Winne
CP Unlimited cares for 700+ individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs) in 125 certified residential homes, and has 100+ nursing staff, 5 registered dieticians, 20 mental health staff, and more than 1,000 direct care counselors. Approximately 20 of the RNs are case managers, however there was no consistency in the performance of their job functions. This has impacted not only the quality of nursing service, but also the other departments since they are interdependent. There was a need to maximize the professional performance of the RN case managers and provide more effective leadership in our participation in chronic care management programs (CCM) with their clinic providers.
By advocating Palliative Care delivery structure to improve the interdisciplinary team knowledge base, and for self-improvement (while achieving CMEs), staff from various boroughs responded to encouragement to try out the training modules. We are pleased with their achievement within 1 year of signing up with CAPC. This was achieved without allocation of protected time to do the courses. We plan to schedule additional training time this coming year. Having an outside and independent expert on palliative care to guide the team also gave the staff a sense of being treated equally by the team in terms of the importance of their work, regardless of their Boroughs, or their prior training and experience. Topics covered under CAPC are relevant to our staff. They are very happy to note that information on topics such as management of symptoms and dementia are easily available to them.
We do not have plan to form teams for billable palliative care service, but rather guide our staff on how and when to access palliative care in hospitals and homes, in a timely manner from existing agencies. We are confident that by working with CAPC, we will improve the quality of life of our IDDs and transform a challenging work place into a more supportive environment for our staff. OSF HealthCare Saint Luke Medical Center, Tipping Point Challenge WinneAbout the Center to Advance Palliative Care The Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) is a national organization dedicated to increasing the availability of quality health care for people living with a serious illness. As the nation’s leading resource in its field, CAPC provides health care professionals and organizations with the training, tools, and technical assistance necessary to effectively meet this need. CAPC is funded through organizational membership and the generous support of foundations and private philanthropy. It is part of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in New York City. www.capc.org About the Tipping Point Challenge The Tipping Point Challenge is a national competition aimed at creating a tipping point of change in the improvement of care delivered to millions of Americans living with a serious illness. The goal of the first Tipping Point Challenge was to help health care organizations expand the ability to enhance skills among clinicians in all medical specialties and disciplines treating serious illness. Meet the Challenge at https://tippingpointchallenge.capc.org/
NEW YORK, NY (February 5, 2020) The Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) proudly announced today the winners of the inaugural round of the The John A. Hartford Foundation Tipping Point Challenge, a national innovation and quality improvement challenge sponsored by CAPC and The John A. Hartford Foundation. The Challenge is the cornerstone of a five-year campaign aimed at creating a tipping point in the improvement of care delivered to millions of Americans living with a serious illness. Over 1500 organizations participated.
The goal of the first Tipping Point Challenge was to help health care organizations expand the ability to effectively care for seriously ill patients by enhancing skills among clinicians in all medical specialties treating serious illness. These include communication, pain management, and symptom management skills directed at the complex needs of people living with serious illness. The second Challenge will be announced in Spring 2020 and will focus specifically on the development of innovation.
According to Diane E. Meier, MD, director of the Center to Advance Palliative Care, the enthusiasm and heightened activity of health care organizations across the country to rapidly enhance skills that are not usually the focus of training in medical school, is a testament to the thirst and extraordinary need to improve the quality of care provided to people living with serious illness. The competition also shows a very productive collaboration between clinicians and their C-Suite leaders that energizes, inspires, and demonstrates high levels of leadership.
We congratulate the winners of the Tipping Point Challenge for their commitment to continuous learning and skill-building so that all patients with serious illness receive the highest quality care that focuses on what matters most to them, said Terry Fulmer, PhD, RN, FAAN, president of The John A. Hartford Foundation.
From 1500 participating health care organizations, 24 organizations won and another 70 achieved the Honor Roll. Many found that the competition challenged them to be more ambitious in their thinking and facilitated the spread of skills across specialties and disciplines. Organizations and leadership tackled the issue on an enterprise-level, enabling them to continue scaling improvement in the care they deliver to this patient population.
The 24 winning organizations are:
Aspire Health
Bluegrass Care Navigators
Butler Memorial Hospital
CareMore Health
Compassion Hospice
Compassus
HCSC
House of Loreto
Lutheran Hospice and Palliative Care
Main Line Health – Hospice
McKenzie County Healthcare System
Medical University of South Carolina
MedStar Union Memorial Hospital
MercyOne Clinton Medical Center
Moffitt Cancer Center
OSF St. Luke Medical Center
Snowline Hospice
St Mary?s Good Samaritan Hospital
St. Mary’s Sacred Heart Hospital
Stonehill Franciscan Services
Stony Brook University Hospital
Sutter Care at Home
VA Medical Center Iowa City
Visiting Physician Association
The 70 Honor Roll recipients include:
Aspen Hospice Care Inc
Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey
Iowa City VA Health Care System
Lutheran Hospice and Palliative Care
McKenzie County Healthcare System
Nathan Adelson Hospice
Providence Connections – Portland
Providence ElderPlace Housing
Van Duyn Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing
Agrace HospiceCare
Ambercare
Aspire Health
Attention Plus Care
Bluegrass Care Navigators
CareMore Health
Compassion Hospice
Constructive Partnerships Unlimited (CP Unlimited)
Exeter Hospital
Highmark Health
Hospice of the Western Reserve
Hospice of Western Kentucky
House of Loreto
Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP)
Kaiser Permanente Home Health & Hospice
Knox Community Hospital
Margaret Mary Health
MedStar Union Memorial Hospital
MercyOne Clinton Medical Center
Mount Carmel Home Care
Optum Complex Care Management
PopHealthCare
Providence ElderPlace – Portland
Sarasota Memorial Hospital
St Mary’s Good Samaritan Hospital
St. Mary’s Hospital
Stony Brook University Hospital
The Valley Hospital
Tomah Memorial Hospital
UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital
Waldo County General Hospital
Compassus
HCSC
Holy Cross Long-Term Nursing Care
Pathways Home Health and Hospice
Stony Brook Southampton Hospital
The Alverno Healthcare Facility
UPMC Cole
Visiting Physician Association
VNA Care of New England
Blue Shield of California
Butler Memorial Hospital
Coler Rehabilitation and Nursing Facility
Front Range Hospice & Palliative Care
HMSA BlueCross BlueShield of Hawaii
J.C. Blair Memorial Hospital
Main Line Health – Hospice
Medical University of South Carolina
Midland Care Connection
Moffitt Cancer Center
Moses H Cone Memorial Hospital
Mount Carmel West
Mount Sinai Medical Center
NorthStar Care Community
NYC Health and Hospitals – Coney Island
OSF Holy Family Medical Center
Rainbow Hospice and Palliative Care
Snowline Hospice
Stonehill Franciscan Services
Summit Medical Group – New Jersey
UnityPoint at Home – Des Moines Home Health
About the Center to Advance Palliative Care
The Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) is a national organization dedicated to increasing the availability of quality health care for people living with a serious illness. As the nation?s leading resource in its field, CAPC provides health care professionals and organizations with the training, tools, and technical assistance necessary to effectively meet this need. CAPC is part of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. www.capc.org and tippingpointchallenge.capc.org.
The John A. Hartford Foundation, based in New York City, is a private, nonpartisan, national philanthropy dedicated to improving the care of older adults. The leader in the field of aging and health, the Foundation has three priority areas: creating age-friendly health systems, supporting family caregivers, and improving serious illness and end-of-life care. For more information, visit johnahartford.org and follow @johnahartford.
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Atlanta, GA (November 14, 2019) The Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) is pleased to announce fifty-four front-runners of the first John A. Hartford Foundation Tipping Point Challenge – the cornerstone of a campaign aimed at creating a tipping point in the improvement of care quality delivered to millions living with a serious illness. Over 15oo organizations have participated so far. Winners will be announced in January.
People living with a serious illness experience tremendous burdens, including worry, pain and other symptoms, and enormous caregiver distress, said Diane E. Meier, MD, director of the Center to Advance Palliative Care. “Palliative care has seen enormous growth, yet gaps in care remain. We at CAPC aim to change this by catalyzing change with the help and support of our partner, The John A. Hartford Foundation.”
“On behalf of The John A. Hartford Foundation, I want to congratulate all the frontrunners and all participants who took up the charge for change,” said Amy Berman, program officer at The John A. Hartford Foundation. “You are the country’s change agents, and we applaud you.”
Until the end of December, there is time for other organizations to catch up to the front-runners.
The frontrunner organizations include:
Agrace HospiceCare
Ambercare (New Mexico)
Aspen Hospice
Aspire Health
Attention Plus Care
Bluegrass Care Navigators
Butler Memorial Hospital
CareMore
CHI Health at Home (ND and MN)
Coler Rehabilitation and Nursing Facility
Compassion Hospice
Compassus
Coney Island Hospital
Front Range Hospice & Palliative Care
HCSC
Hospice of the Western Reserve
House of Loreto
J.C. Blair Memorial Hospital
Knox Community Hospital
Lutheran Hospice and Palliative Care
Main Line Health:Hospice
Margaret Mary Health
McKenzie County Healthcare Systems
Medical University of South Carolina
MedStar Union Memorial Hospital
Mercy Medical Center – Clinton
Midland Care Connection, Inc
Moffitt Cancer Center
Mount Carmel Home Care
Mount Carmel West
Mount Sinai Medical Center
Nathan Adelson Hospice Inc.
NorthStar Care Community
Optum Complex Care Management
OSF Holy Family Medical Center
OSF Saint Paul Medical Center (FKA Mendota Community Hospital)
OSF St. Luke Medical Center
PopHealthCare
Providence Connections/Palliative Care
Providence ElderPlace – Portland
Rainbow Hospice and Palliative Care
Sarasota Memorial Hospital
Snowline Hospice
St. Mary’s Hospital – Athens
Stonehill Franciscan Services
Stony Brook Southampton Hospital
Stony Brook University Hospital
Sutter Care at Home
TeamMD – Tennessee
The Alverno Healthcare Facility
The Valley Hospital
UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital
UnityPoint at Home
VA Medical Center Iowa City
Visiting Physician Association
Waldo County General Hospital
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New York, NY (June 4, 2019) The Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) is proud to announce that it has been awarded a new grant to improve the quality of care for older adults living with a serious illness.
Through the generosity of The John A. Hartford Foundation, CAPC will engage in four interrelated activities. This includes expanding access to high-quality community-based palliative care; improving frontline clinician skills through a national campaign and competition known as The John A. Hartford Foundation Tipping Point Challenge; partnering with the American Hospital Association to drive uptake of palliative care in health systems; and, addressing palliative care financing and operational issues faced by Accountable Care Organizations and Medicare Advantage Plans through learning collaboratives.
We are grateful and extremely honored to be awarded this important grant from The John A. Hartford Foundation, said Diane E. Meier, MD, director of the Center to Advance Palliative Care. This funding will allow CAPC to exponentially further our mission of improving and expanding access to quality care for all people living with a serious illness, the great majority of whom are older adults. By scaling our proven solutions, CAPC can leverage the move towards genuine person-centered care in the US health care system and make the case that the quality of our health care system is directly tied to reliable access to quality palliative care.
CAPC has played a transformational role in our health care system by dramatically expanding access to quality palliative care for older adults and other living with serious illness, said Terry Fulmer, PhD, RN, FAAN, President of The John A. Hartford Foundation. With this latest grant, we will help CAPC continue its momentum and help health systems become more age-friendly by ensuring that all older adults with serious illness can get palliative care when and where they need it.
ABOUT CAPC
The Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) is a national organization dedicated to increasing the availability of quality care for people living with a serious illness. As the nations leading resource in its field, CAPC provides health care professionals and organizations with the training, tools, and technical assistance necessary to effectively meet this need. CAPC is part of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in New York City. To learn more, visit capc.org.
ABOUT THE JOHN A. HARTFORD FOUNDATION
The John A. Hartford Foundation, based in New York City, is a private, nonpartisan, national philanthropy dedicated to improving the care of older adults. The leader in the field of aging and health, the Foundation has three priority areas: creating age-friendly health systems, supporting family caregivers, and improving serious illness and end-of-life care. For more information, visit johnahartford.org and follow @johnahartford.
For more information, please contact: John Zoccola. [email protected] / 267.664.2759
New York, NY (January 10, 2019) The Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) is starting its 20th anniversary year with a campaign aimed at creating a tipping point in the improvement of care quality delivered to millions living with a serious illness.
People living with a serious illness such as cancer, CHF, COPD, Parkinson’s, and more, experience all the associated burdens of illness, including worry, pain and other symptoms, and caregiver distress, said Diane E. Meier, MD, director of the Center to Advance Palliative Care. Despite the rapid growth of palliative care, which is specialized medical care focused on relief of the symptoms and stress of serious illness, most people who need palliative care don’t get it.
To close this gap, the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) has started a five-year national effort, Project Tipping Point, to expand patient access to the principles and practices of palliative care. The new campaign will focus on
- increasing access to quality palliative care services across the full continuum of care in the hospital, at home, in office practices, and in long term care settings; and
- enhancing knowledge and skill, in complex pain and symptom management and doctor/patient/family communication, among all other specialties and disciplines.
The long-term relationship between doctor and patient is the essential element for high quality health care, as it enables the trust necessary for shared decision-making. Patients expect their clinicians to understand what matters most to them, to explain what to expect and the pros and cons of the different treatment options, to support decisions that are matched to realistic and achievable goals, and to control their symptoms over the long course of illness. Most of these skills have not been part of nursing or medical education, said Meier.
Studies show:
- High-quality communication between [clinician] caregivers and patients has the largest impact on reducing hospital readmissions. Results indicate that a hospital would, on average, reduce its readmission rate by 5% if it were to prioritize communication with the patients in addition to complying with evidence-based standards of care
- While 29% of physicians report having had some level of training in communication about goals of care, nearly half (46%) admit that they are unsure about what to say.
- The Institute of Medicine (IOM) concluded in 2015 that communication training was a critical–and missing–element in improving the experience of patients with serious illness, and their families.
- Proactive management of physical symptoms like pain results in substantial improvement in quality of life, function, and reduced hospitalization.
To kick off the campaign, CAPC is also launching the Tipping Point Challenge, a competition to catalyze the spread of knowledge and skills among palliative care specialists and non-palliative care specialists alike. The skills include those that are most critical to caring for patients with serious illness, such as patient communication and pain and symptom management.
Taking place from January 10-December 31, 2019, the goal of the Challenge is to create a tipping point within its member organizations, and throughout the nation, a critical mass beyond which change cannot be stopped.
ABOUT CAPC
The Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) is a national, nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing the availability of quality health care for people living with serious illness. It provides health care professionals and organizations with the training, tools, technical assistance, and metrics necessary to redesign care systems that effectively meet this need. CAPC is part of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in New York City. To learn more about CAPC and the Project Tipping Point campaign, visit capc.org.
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Contact: John Zoccola at 267.664.2759 or [email protected]
