Summit Highlights
Many thanks to all those who helped contribute to the success of our May 9 summit. It was an inspiring gathering of 300 members and guests at the JFK Library.
You can view a brief video with highlights of the session by clicking here.
Health New England Supports Advance Care Planning
Leaders at Health New England are committed to ensuring that their associates and members understand and complete advance directives. Dr. Rebecca Starr, who is medical director for the health plan, is also a geriatrician and palliative care physician who has taken care of many patients at the end of life. “The difference between those with advance directives and those without is striking,” she says. Those with advance directives have usually thought about their goals of care and what matters to them at different stages of life. They have documented their preferences, which makes it easier for their families as well as the physicians providing their care. When advance directives are not done, there is a significant amount of additional stress during an already difficult time. Challenging decisions need to be made and family members don’t always agree on decisions. Health New England is working to educate its members, providers, and employees about the importance of this issue. Here are some of the steps they have taken to support advance care planning (ACP):
- hold monthly meetings of a multi-disciplinary ACP group with the goal of developing quality, processes, and outcome measures; reporting on ongoing initiatives; and making online resources available to associates, members, and providers.
- ensure that all case managers receive yearly training on ACP. This enables them to help members develop care plans that address goals-of-care in a meaningful way.
- work with their parent company, Baystate Health, on system-wide initiatives to educate employees, providers, and patients on the importance of ACP.
- produced an all-associates event during National Healthcare Decisions Day to highlight the importance of ACP for associates, their families, and the members they serve. Associates also had the opportunity to complete their own health care proxy.
- hosted an education session that same week for seniors, and provided them with take-home materials they could use in discussions with their family and providers. More than 100 people attended.
We regularly feature articles about the innovative work of our members. If you would like to share your story, please contact Richard Averbuch at [email protected].
End Well Symposium
End Well is a ground-breaking gathering of people from the design, tech, health care and activist communities. The goal of the program is to generate human-centered, interdisciplinary innovation for end-of-life care.
This single-day symposium's fast-paced agenda of provocative minds and empathic priorities promises a unique immersion in the cultural, clinical and systems issues and opportunities relating to the end-of-life experience – and marks the beginning of a movement to actively change our relationship to living and dying.
The Coalition is a Community Partner for End Well.
Thursday, December 7, 2017
8:00 AM – 8:00 PM PST
InterContinental San Francisco Hotel
San Francisco, CA