Compassion House Calls Announces Completion of Palliative Care Leadership Centers Training to Improve the Care of Serious Illness
September 1, 2018 – Compassion House Calls is pleased to announce the completion and implementation of Palliative Care Leadership Centers (PCLC) training focused on the growth and development of Compassion House Calls’ palliative care service. PCLC training standardizes best practices, including program design, clinical models, business and financial planning, staffing, and measurement. Based on an in-depth needs assessment, training was customized to the needs of Southeast Texas.
The Palliative Care Leadership Centers are nine nationwide centers of excellence in palliative care – the medical sub-specialty focused on relief of the symptoms and stress of serious illness. Launched in 2003 by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC), the Palliative Care Leadership Centers represent one of the country’s leading examples of the diffusion of innovation in healthcare. Compassion House Calls attended the PCLC at Blue Grass Care Navigators in Lexington, KY (bgcarenav.org).
“In recognizing the need for expert complex care management in Southeast Texas we sent a team of 6 healthcare leaders with a heart for our area seniors.” Says Allen Ayres, RN MBA and Founder of Compassion House Calls. “Learning from the best in the country and bringing that knowledge back to Southeast Texas can only springboard our desire to improve the quality of care of our seriously ill.”
Older adults with multiple chronic conditions make up 66 percent of Medicare beneficiaries and account for 93 percent of total Medicare expenditures. These people are at the highest risk for poor outcomes and high health care expenditures. Therefore, providers have strong incentives to make sure that people facing serious illness receive quality palliative care.
Palliative care is specialized medical care focused on providing relief from the symptoms and stress of a serious illness. The goal is to improve quality of life for both the patient and the family. Palliative care is appropriate at any age and at any stage in a serious illness, and it can be provided along with curative treatment. Quality palliative care programs significantly impact patient and clinician satisfaction measures and 30-day readmissions.
“We appreciate the efforts of Compassion House Calls’ leaders in establishing a high quality home-based palliative care agency in Southeast Texas” says Turner West, MPH, MT, Director of Education & Palliative Care Leadership Ctr, Blue Grass Care Navigators. “We put a lot of work in and will continue to work closely together to build a center for excellence in expert complex disease management”.
In the last 15 years the field has had stunning growth, now reaching over 90 percent of large U.S. hospitals. Palliative care is now spreading rapidly to community settings where the seriously ill actually live and need help. Over 1200 teams have already attended a PCLC at least once, and over 80% have reported success. Located across the country, the nine Palliative Care Leadership Centers include:
• Bluegrass Care Navigators, Lexington, Kentucky
• Fairview Health Services, Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Mount Carmel Health System, Columbus, Ohio
• Northwell Health, New Hyde Park, New York
• Presbyterian Healthcare Services, Albuquerque, New Mexico
• University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), Birmingham, Alabama
• University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco, California
• University of Virginia Health System (UVA), Charlottesville, Virginia
• VCU Massey Cancer Center, Richmond, Virginia
About Compassion House Calls
Established in 2018, Compassion House Calls brings an expert level of specialized medical care to your home, providing an extra layer of support for people living with serious illness. We focus on providing relief from the symptoms and stresses with the goal of improving your quality of life. For help, please call us at 835-8357 or for more info please visit us at compassionhousecalls.com
About the Palliative Care Leadership Centers
The Palliative Care Leadership Centers™ (PCLC) are the nation’s centers of excellence in palliative care. Established in 2003, PCLC provides intensive, operational training and yearlong mentoring for palliative care programs at every stage of development and growth. PCLC training leads to program sustainability and growth–and the best quality, highest-value care for patients with serious illness. To learn more, visit pclc.capc.org.
