Spring 2019
Featured
Feature
Tracking the Evolution of HPM Science
BY LARRY BERESFORD One of the most important developments in the growth and maturation of the field of hospice and palliative medicine (HPM) as a recognized medical subspecialty has been the emergence of a research base documenting the outcomes that...
In this Issue
Editor's Message
A New Look & New Conference
Welcome to the new-and-improved AAHPM Quarterly—and for those of you who joined us at the 2019 Annual Assembly in Orlando, welcome home! You may have noticed that this issue of the AAHPM Quarterly looks a little different from past volumes. As...
Meet the President
Meet AAHPM President Joanne Wolfe, MD MPH FAAHPM
What led you to the specialty of hospice and palliative medicine? I came to the specialty of hospice and palliative medicine through several formative experiences. For pediatric residents in the early 1990s, it was not uncommon to find oneself alone...
Clinical Pearls
Side Effects of Immunotherapy in Palliative Care
Susan B. LeGrand, MD FACP FAAHPM The hope of immunotherapy was that it would be less toxic than cytotoxic chemotherapy by binding to specific receptors and using the patient’s own immune system to treat the cancer. As the agents have...
Art of Caring
Reading Ourselves, Reading Others: Teaching Perspective Taking in Palliative Medicine
Kathryn B. Kirkland, MD I’ve been surprised by how often new hospice and palliative medicine fellows are unprepared for the range of responses their patients have when they are the recipients of bad news. It seems self-evident that there are...
Advocacy Update
2019 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule: CMS Delays Proposed Changes to E/M Payment, Advances Virtual Care
By Jacqueline M. Kocinski, MPP, and Phil Rodgers , MD FAAHPM For many years, payment policies finalized annually by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) under the Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) sparked little fanfare in the hospice and...
Pathways to Palliative Care
From Geriatrics to Palliative Care (Times Two)
Marcin Chwistek, MD FAAHPM Anna Marissa Araw, MD HMDC, and Anna Clarissa Araw, MD HMDC, twins who are palliative care physicians, are inseparable in life and work. And as the three of us spoke on the phone in November, the...
Diversity Equity & Inclusion
Diversity & Inclusion Forum on Culture: You Spoke, and We Heard You
Ronit Elk, PhD With the increasing cultural diversity of seriously ill patients and their families, clinicians frequently care for patients whose cultural beliefs, values, and preferences may differ from their own. Studies suggest that clinicians as well as patients and...
HMDCB Update
HMDCB Certification: More Than Just Letters After Your Name
With the first recertification exam on the horizon for Hospice Medical Director Certification Board (HMDCB) certificants who certified in 2014 (the opportunity to apply to take the exam one year early, in 2019, opens in June), this issue of the...
AAHPM News
AAHPM News
Congratulations, 2018 Fellows of the Academy The following physicians recently earned the designation Fellow of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Advancement to fellowship status within the Academy honors dedication to and scholarship in the field of hospice...
Quarterly Progress Rreport
AAHPM Points of Progress
More than 30 committees and task forces representing the efforts and expertise of hundreds of Academy members have made significant progress toward implementing AAHPM's goals. This progress report highlights accomplishments within each goal area of the strategic plan during the...