HPCI Fall 2018 Newsletter

LILIAN AND BENJAMIN HERTZBERG PALLIATIVE CARE INSTITUTE

PALLIATIVE CARE NEWSLETTER FALL 2018

Hertzberg Institute Supports National Policy for Palliative Care Education The Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act (PCHETA) came a step closer to becoming law this summer, passing a vote in the House of Representatives and proceeding to the Senate for consideration. The bi-partisan bill, a brainchild of the Hertzberg Institute and the Patient Quality of Life Coalition (PQLC), will expand opportunities for interdisciplinary education, training and research in palliative care.

The proposed legislation is needed to address a shortage in palliative care-trained physicians to treat the growing population of people living with serious illness: by 2030, there will only be one palliative care physician for every 26,000 seriously ill patients.

The Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute teamed up with the PQLC to educate Congress on the fundamental need for more palliative care-trained physicians and the funding to support them.

The legislation will authorize the Department of Health and Human Services to award grants or contracts for Palliative Care and Hospice Education Centers, promote the career development of physicians and nurses in palliative care through fellowship funding and academic career awards, and promote research and outreach in the delivery of care for patients with serious or life-threatening illness.

The House of Representatives passed

R. Sean Morrison, MD

PCHETA by voice vote – a voting method reserved for issues expected to pass or fall by a landslide.

“Many of our faculty have worked tirelessly over the years to educate legislators, refine this bill’s language, and create a broad coalition of support that eventually led to this success,” says Dr. R. Sean Morrison, Ellen and Howard C. Katz Chair of the Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine. “I am proud that our department will be there to bring PCHETA over the finish-line and will continue bridging the ominous workforce gap.” ■

BROOKDALE DEPARTMENT of GERIATRICS AND PALLIATIVE MEDICINE

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FOCUS ON THE MISSION:

Hertzberg Institute Advances Clinical Practices, Education, Research and Health Policy

The Lilian and Benjamin Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute is a national leader in the field of palliative care. The Institute’s mission is to advance clinical practices, education, research and health policy so that every seriously ill patient and their family have access to the highest quality of care.

“We have taken on a comprehensive and critical approach to improving access to palliative care,” says Dr. Emily Chai, Director of the Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute. “As individual clinicians and a collective institute, we are dedicated to meeting the needs of all seriously ill patients and their families.”

The Hertzberg Institute is home to clinical settings throughout New York City. The Institute cares for seriously ill patients and their families across the Mount Sinai Health System in dedicated palliative care units, throughout the individual hospitals, in a variety of outpatient settings and in the community – meeting patients where they are. Each of these

clinical environments also serves as an educational setting for future palliative care clinicians, residents, fellows and medical students completing palliative care rotations.

The Hertzberg Institute’s educational program offers an innovative and highly-sought after fellowship training program, which has provided a model for other programs across the country.

By educating future clinicians in high quality palliative care, the Institute is helping to close the gap between the number of qualified palliative care clinicians and the growing need among patients and families living with serious illness.

In its research program, the Hertzberg Institute is advancing the evidence base for palliative care with funding from the National Institute on Aging and private foundations. This research furthers the case for palliative care, improves care delivery and supports national policy reform. ■

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2018 Douglas West Memorial Lecture with Jeremy Boal, MD Geriatricians and palliative care clinicians are at the vanguard of healthcare reform, according to Dr. Jeremy Boal, Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer of the Mount Sinai Health System and President of Mount Sinai Downtown.

healthcare costs higher without always providing quality care. The delivery of care was often organized around the needs of hospitals and health systems, rather than the needs of patients. This is beginning to change, says Dr. Boal, and palliative medicine is providing the model for the delivery of whole-person care.

“We [as geriatricians and palliative medicine clinicians] cannot do our work without looking at the whole patient,” he said. “People expect – and they should expect – seamless care… They should expect that at 2:00 AM, when they have a problem, they can speak to someone who will solve their problem rather than go to the Emergency Room.”

In remarks given for the 22nd Annual Douglas West Memorial Lecture in April, Dr. Boal argued that the person-centered care and innovative delivery models developed in the field of geriatrics and palliative care closely align with the search for value in healthcare. A holistic approach to healthcare, taking both clinical and psychosocial factors into account, is gaining traction in health systems as a way to improve quality of care by meeting the real needs of patients and families.

Historically, providers of healthcare in the US have received payments for procedures or episodes of care, driving

Prior to his current role, Dr. Boal was Chief Medical Officer for the North Shore LIJ Health System. Earlier in his career, he was a fellow with the Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at Mount Sinai and he co-founded and served as the Executive Director of Mount Sinai’s Visiting Doctors Program.

The Annual Douglas West Memorial Lecture was established by Susie West in memory of her husband and in honor of Dr. Diane Meier, Director of the Center to Advance Palliative Care and founding Director of the Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute, both at Mount Sinai. The lecture has become a successful forum for discussing palliative care, aging research and healthcare policy.

To view Dr. Boal’s lecture, please visit: mountsinai.org/palliative. ■

Lilian and Benjamin Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute Advisory Board Saskia Siderow, Co-Chair Susie West, Co-Chair Deborah Berg Beth Dannhauser

Peggy Danziger Joseph Hertzberg Lois Perelson-Gross Meryl Rosofsky, MD

Stephen Siderow Jenny Steingart Dorothy Toran Zena Wiener

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Susie West’s Matching Gift Challenge “A Resounding Success” The Lilian and Benjamin Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute raised more than $300,000 in response to a generous $150,000 matching gift challenge from Susie West, longtime volunteer and Co-Chair of the Hertzberg Advisory Board. The successful challenge grant, launched in the fall of 2017, doubled Susie West the impact of donations for patients and families who rely on Hertzberg for relief from the pain, symptoms, and stress of serious illness.

Susie has been a fulltime volunteer with the Hertzberg Institute for over two decades. She is dedicated to advancing

the mission of the Hertzberg Institute and ensuring that every seriously ill patient and family has access to the highest quality of care.

“With Susie’s support and our incredible network of donors, we not only met the matching gift challenge, but exceeded it. We are so grateful to Susie and all of our supporters who made this such a resounding success,” says Dr. R. Sean Morrison, Ellen and Howard C. Katz Chair of the Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine. ■

NEW ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS

Beth Dannhauser and Lois Perelson-Gross The Lilian and Benjamin Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute expanded its Advisory Board with the addition of two new members this year: Beth Dannhauser and Lois Perelson-Gross.

Beth Dannhauser Maryelizabeth “Beth” Dannhauser began her career as a nurse and, in 1996, merged this with her passion for holistic medicine. Beth is the Founder and CEO of Compassionate Touch LLC which has administered therapeutic treatment to patients in intensive care units throughout Manhattan for over 20 years. Beth is also a consultant to the Visiting Nurse Service of New York and serves patients on our Wiener Family Palliative Care Unit. To these seriously ill and hospitalized patients, she offers a new awareness and perspective of their experience. With her incredible experience and as an entrepreneur in healthcare, Beth brings

invaluable knowledge of the needs of seriously ill patients and their families to the Advisory Board.

Lois Perelson-Gross Lois Perelson-Gross has served as a palliative care chaplain intern on our Wiener Family Palliative Care Unit and is a candidate for a Doctorate of the Ministry at Hebrew Union College.

Although she began her career as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, she soon found her passion in end-of-life care, policy, and humanism in medicine. Lois trained in clinical pastoral education and received a Master’s of Science Degree in Narrative Medicine from Columbia University. Lois brings a unique and invaluable perspective to the advisory board having worked directly with our patients, their families and our team on the unit. ■

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Largest Meta-Analysis Shows Palliative Care is Better Care The Lilian and Benjamin Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute partnered with Trinity College in Dublin to publish the largest palliative care meta-analysis in April. The metaanalysis, a study of studies, found that patients who received palliative care experienced better health outcomes, while also reducing the costs of care.

The meta-analysis combined six individual studies, representing 130,000 patients admitted to hospitals in the United States between 2001 and 2015, of which only 4 percent received palliative care. Patients who received palliative care alongside other appropriate treatments enjoyed a better quality of life, tended to live longer particularly in the case of cancer, and reported higher patient and family satisfaction. Palliative care also reduced the costs of care for patients, families, hospitals and insurers. By addressing the pain, symptoms, and stress of serious illness, palliative care clinicians are

uniquely suited to align the patient’s and family’s wishes with the best course of treatment.

“This study proves that better care can go hand in hand with a better bottom line,” says Dr. R. Sean Morrison, Ellen and Howard C. Katz Chair of the Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine. “It’s a sideeffect of providing high-quality care.”

Palliative care is the specialized medical care focused on relieving the symptoms, pain and stress of serious illness for patients and their families. It provides an added layer of support for patients of all ages and at all stages of any serious or advanced illness, regardless of the prognosis.

By focusing on the goals and needs of patients and their families, it helps patients and families to avoid crises, make fewer emergency room visits, spend fewer days in the hospital and intensive care unit, and have less need for re-admission. ■

“This study proves that better care can go hand in hand with a better bottom line…”

Lilian and Benjamin Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai One Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1070, New York, NY 10029 Tel. 212-241-1446 • www.mountsinai.org/palliative

Fourth-Century French Proverb

“To cure sometimes, to relieve often, to comfort always”

Fall 2018

PALLIATIVE CARE NEWSLETTER

Lilian and Benjamin Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai One Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1070 New York, NY 10029