Winter 2018
Featured
Feature
New National Quality Guidelines Keep Pace with Rapid Advances in Palliative Care
By Joe Rotella, MD MBA HMDC FAAHPM, and Martha L. Twaddle, MD HMDC FACP FAAHPM Delivering better outcomes and experiences for people living with serious illness and their caregivers increasingly is recognized to be a key driver of healthcare value,...
In this Issue
AAHPM News
CMS Provides $5.5 Million Grant to Develop Measures for Community-Based Palliative Care
AAHPM, in partnership with the National Coalition for Hospice and Palliative Care and the RAND Corporation, was awarded a 3-year, $5.5 million grant from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to develop patient-reported quality measures for community-based palliative...
Annual Assembly
Community-Endorsed Sessions at Annual Assembly
AAHPM Special Interest Groups and Forums will be presenting several sessions during the 2019 Annual Assembly. Consider attending one or more of these Community-Endorsed Sessions: Thursday, March 14 7–8 am Tear Down the Wall and Build a Bridge: Understanding Latino...
The Art of Caring
At the Bedside of a Dying Hero
Charles G. Sasser, MD FACP FAAHPM They invade my innocence, this Somber assemblage of supplicants Entreating and entrapping My trembling technologies Awaking both awe and apprehension I shudder at the anticipation of staggering steps Grit-teethed gasps behind Now impatient pets...
Clinical Pearls
Is Marijuana Really Medicine?
Gregg VandeKieft, MD MA FAAHPM Most palliative care clinicians have received inquiries about medical marijuana, but few consider themselves well informed on the subject. Those seeking up-to-date clinical information generally are frustrated with the limited amount of high-quality evidence regarding...
Ethics
Cultural Humility: A Successful Communication Tool
Michelle Grant Ervin, MD MHPE FACEP Cultural humility is a way of being. Rather than focusing on use of cultural humility with people of a particular ethnicity or race, all patients and their family members should have an opportunity to...
Advocacy Update
AAHPM Advocacy—The Year in Review
Jacqueline M. Kocinski, MPP AAHPM’s strategic plan specifies that the Academy will increase public awareness of hospice and palliative medicine and its value to patients and families, advocate for public policy that supports individuals with serious illness and the professionals...
Pathways to Palliative Care
Dr. Rebecca Goett—Palliative Care in the Emergency Department
Marcin Chwistek, MD FAAHPM During one of her recent shifts as an emergency medicine (EM) attending physician at Rutgers University Hospital in Newark, NJ, Rebecca Goett, MD FACEP FAAHPM, took care of a patient with advanced cancer who came in...
President's Message
Moral Distress, Moral Residue, and Clinician Burnout—Shining a Blue Light on It
Tammie Quest, MD FAAHPM Clinician burnout is one of the greatest threats to the viability of our field today. Last year, one of our fellows presented a Journal Club that was transformative for me. Although the topic was moral distress...
HMDCB Update
New HMDCB President Discusses His Role and the Organization Moving Forward
Following the Hospice Medical Director Certification Board’s (HMDCB) Fall 2018 Board of Directors meeting, Brian Murphy, MD MBA HMDC FAAHPM, a hospice physician at Orange Regional Medical Center in New York, took over as the organization’s president. Upon assuming the...
Quarterly Progress Report
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...