PALTtalk

AMDA On-The-Go | Are SNFs Dealt an Impossible Hand?

Arif Nazir, MD, FACP, CMD, AGSF
Arif Nazir is Chief Medical Officer, Signature Healthcare; President, SHC Medical Partners, and is the president of AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine. Dr. Nazir is also the past chair of its Innovations Platform Advisory Council. He has received many professional awards, most notably the Louisville Business First’s 20 People to Know: Healthcare award in 2018, and the Indiana Hulman Health Achievement Award for Public Health in 2015. He has published his research in several peer-reviewed journals and frequently presents at regional and national platforms on geriatric care issues.
 
References:
Walshe, K., MD, "Regulating U.S. Nursing Homes: Are We Learning From Experience?", Health Affairs, Nov, 2001.
Nazir, Arif, "Time to bet on SNF providers", McKnights Long-Term Care News, March, 2019.
Nazir, Arif, et. al., "No One Cares When Planes Don't Crash: The Message for Long-term Care", JAMDA, May 2019.

AMDA On-The-Go | Patient Driven Payment Model

Rajeev Kumar, MD, FACP, CMD
Dr. Kumar, an honors graduate from Bangalore Medical College in 1993, is the Medical Director for Transitions Hospice (Illinois Region) since April of 2017. Board certified in Geriatric Medicine, Palliative Care as well as Internal Medicine. Doctor is also the President of Midwest Geriatrics, LLC, a physician group that provides medical leadership and clinical services to 40 nursing homes, 20 assisted living facilities and 5 outpatient clinics located in the western suburbs of Chicago. Dr. Kumar is chief medical officer for Symbria, providing pharmacy services for 150 nursing homes across America. Dr. Kumar is also a Certified Medical Director from AMDA and is the immediate past president of Illinois Medical Directors Association. He serves as the medical director for two skilled nursing facilities and is AMDA’s representative on the Professional and Technical Advisory Committee to the Joint Commission and serves as AMDA’s Secretary.
References:
Kumar, R., MD, "SNF Medical Directors and Clinicians in PDPM Have Vital Role", Caring for the Ages, May. 2019
Spanko, Alex, "Cheat Sheets and Timely Visits: How SNFs Can Support Doctors’ Larger PDPM Role", Skilled Nursing News, May, 2019

AMDA On-The-Go | Leadership in Skilled Nursing Homes

Michael Wasserman, M.D.
Michael Wasserman, M.D., is president of the California Association of Long Term Care Medicine (CALTCM). He recently served as CEO for Rockport Healthcare Services. He was formerly the Executive Director, Care Continuum, for HSAG, the QIN-QIO in California. Dr. Wasserman is a graduate of the University of Texas, Medical Branch. He completed an Internal Medicine residency at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and a Geriatric Medicine Fellowship at UCLA. He spent five years with Kaiser-Permanente in Southern California where he developed a Consultative Geriatric Medical model. Dr. Wasserman was a co-founder and owner of Common Sense Medical Management (CSM2), a case management company that helped manage high risk beneficiaries of Cover Colorado. He is past chair of the American Geriatrics Society’s Managed Care Task Force and presently serves on the Public Policy Committee. He also serves on AMDA's Public Policy Committee, and was formerly a Public Commissioner for the Continuing Care Accreditation Commission.
References:
Wasserman, M., MD "A tectonic shift in nursing homes", McKnights, Feb. 2019
"The Nursing Home Medical Director: Leader & Manager", AMDA, March, 2011
Steven Fuller, DO, PhD, Medical Directors: Why do you Abdicate Your Advocacy with Nursing Homes?", Caring for the Ages, January, 2019
https://twitter.com/wassdoc

AMDA On-The-Hill | Volume IV

 
 
The latest policy news from Director of Policy and Advocacy Alex Bardakh.
Questions? Email Alex at abardakh@paltc.org
Related Resources:
April 18 and May 1 PDPM webinars
Health Policy Advisor article on new payment models
SNF Medical Directors and Clinicians in PDPM Have Vital Role
PALTC Sees Flurry of Legislative and Regulatory Action, but Questions Remain
PDPM White Paper
* AMDA-On-The-Hill podcasts are not eligible for CMD credits   
 
 

AMDA On-The-Go | Appropriate Use of Antipsychotics in LTC Facilities

Lea Watson, MD
Dr. Watson is a board certified adult and geriatric psychiatrist with a lifelong commitment to caring for vulnerable populations, and two decades of academic and leadership experience. Her passion is creating a culture of appropriate psychotropic prescribing in long-term care settings to achieve quality outcomes for all stakeholders. She prioritizes common sense, avoiding harms and keeping the patient’s and family’s goals of care at the heart of all endeavors.  Because of the shortage of geriatric psychiatrists in the United States, she developed a model of consultation and training to extend the reach of this highly needed, but limited specialty.  Dr. Watson is a published author, a recipient of numerous local and national awards for research and teaching, and a multi-year recipient of the Denver 5280 Top Doc award.
References:
Olfson M, King M, Schoenbaum M., "Antipsychotic treatment of adults in the United States.", J. Clin. Psychiatry, 2015
Eva Tan, MD, et. al."Importance of Social Supports Within the Nursing Staff on Agitation in Residents with Dementia", JAMDA
"Reducing Antipsychotic Medication Use in Long Term Care", CFHI, 2014
leawatsonmd.com

AMDA On-The-Go | Advance Care Planning

Karl Steinberg, MD, HMCD, CMD
Dr. Karl Steinberg has been a nursing home and hospice medical director in the San Diego area since 1995 and is currently chief medical officer for Mariner Health Central, a 20-facility California corporation, and is medical director at Life Care Center of Vista, Carlsbad by the Sea Care Center, and Hospice by the Sea. He also makes home visits on behalf of Scripps Healthcare. Dr. Steinberg received his bachelor’s in biochemistry from Harvard and studied medicine at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, then did his family medicine residency at UC San Diego.
Dr. Steinberg is past chair of AMDA’s Public Policy Committee for many years in addition to being editor-in-chief emeritus of the monthly periodical, Caring for the Ages, and is the current Society  Vice-President.
References:
T. Fulmer, PhD, et. al. Physicians' Views on Advance Care Planning and End-of-Life Care Conversations.", JAGS, July, 2018
Gillick, M. R., M.D. "Advance Care Planning" NEJM, 2004
Prater, L. PhD., "Examining Age Inequalities in Operationalized Components of Advance Care Planning: Truncation of the ACP Process With Age", JPSM, April, 2019
National POLST Paradigm

AMDA On-The-Go | Deprescribing Live from Atlanta

Daniel Haimowitz, MD, CMD
Dr. Daniel Haimowitz is a board-certified internist and geriatrician. He earned his Doctor of Medicine from Jefferson Medical College and completed his residency at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from Pennsylvania State University. Haimowitz has been in private practice in Levittown since 1986. An active state physician at St. Mary Medical Center, Haimowitz is the medical director of St. Mary’s Geriatric Assessment Program and several area nursing homes and assisted-living communities. He served as the medical director of the Genesis PACE, LIFE at Home in Delaware County.

AMDA On-The-Go | The State of Geriatric Medicine Education

Heidi White, MD
Dr. White's clinical expertise involves the care of older adults, especially care transitions, long-term care, and post-acute care. She services as the Vice-Chief of Clinical Affairs in the Geriatrics Division At Duke University. She has worked with peer faculty to develop clinical programs including Peri-operative Optimization of Senior Health (POSH) and Health Optimization Program for Elders (HOPE) which is a transitional care program from the hospital to skilled nursing facilities.
 
References:
M. Tinetti, MD, Mainstream or Extinction: Can Defining Who We Are Save Geriatrics?, JAGS, 2018
GERIATRICS WORKFORCE BY THE NUMBERS, AGS, 2017
M. Castellucci, Geriatrics still failing to attract new doctors, Modern Healthcare, 2018

AMDA On-The-Go | A practical guide to Telehealth

Suzanne Gillespie, MD, RD, CMD
Suzanne Gillespie MD, RD, CMD, is Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Geriatrics/Aging and Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. She is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Geriatric Medicine and Hospice & Palliative Medicine.
 
 
 
References:
S. Gillespie et. al, Standards for the Use of Telemedicine for Evaluation and Management of Resident Change of Condition in the Nursing Home", JAMDA, 2019
Telehealth-PALTC-Guide, Westhealth, 2019

AMDA On-The-Hill | Vol. III

The latest policy news from Director of Policy and Advocacy Alex Bardakh.
 
 
Questions? Email Alex at abardakh@paltc.org
 
* AMDA-On-The-Hill podcasts are not eligible for CMD credits