Our guest in this episiode is Dr. Paul DeSandre, Director of Palliative and Supportive Care at Grady Health Systems in Atlanta, GA. In our conversation, we discuss rebuilding a palliative care team that was failing and we get into the always interesting and always complicated challenge of rebuilding relationships with referring physicians.

How do you sustain a palliative care program in the community setting? “Communication, communication, communication,” says Stacey Sharp, Director of Medicine Services for Community Health Network in Indiana. Stacey says communicating openly and effectively with institutional leaders, referring physicians, potential partners in the community, as well as patients and families has contributed to the program’s enormous success since opening its doors in 2006. In this eleven-year-span, the program has since grown 364 percent. But with growth comes growing pains. In this episode, Stacey discusses her biggest challenges and successes in expanding into the community setting.

This podcast features a conversation with Gregg VandeKieft, MD, MA, Medical Director for Palliative Care at Providence St. Peter Hospital, a Magnet Hospital in Washington. Palliative Care at Providence St. Peter Hospital is doing well. The program has done a great job engaging primary care clinicians to increase referrals, their institution has bought into their model, and they are staffed with a full time group committed to the cause. But with success comes growing pains and new obstacles. A recent study showed that the majority of hospitals offering palliative care services fail to meet national staffing guidelines. The study looked at over 400 palliative care programs and found that only 25 percent have all recommended staff positions filled full-time. In this conversation with Doctor VandeKieft—whose team does meet the national standard—we discuss his philosophy on training and retaining a robust team of fill time staff to meet their growing need. We also discuss the evolution of palliative care in the last fifteen years and a host of other topics.

Often, palliative care specialists have to double as business specialists. In this episode, we share our conversation with Doctor Christopher Lillis of UC Davis Health System. Chris is one of so many in our industry that are part of successful inpatient programs that are now beginning to test the waters of a home-based palliative care model. In this chat, Chris discusses the challenges of defining the reach and scope of a new program, building partnerships with likeminded organizations, and starting small to make a big impact.

Our guest Amy Frieman, MD, of Meridian Medical Group discusses how her team is transitioning into providing palliative care in the community setting.

On this episode, our guest is Sandhya Rao, a physician and the Director of Palliative Care Service at Boston Medical Center. Sandhya was originally recruited by Boston Medical Center as a part time hospitalist and palliative care doctor. She has since made it her mission to help grow their palliative care program. As we’ve learned from previous episodes of this podcast, with growth comes obstacles—and those obstacles make the big successes that much sweeter.

The Palliative Care Program Spotlight Series travels to Atlanta, Georgia to learn about the Emory Palliative Care Center at Emory St. Joseph’s Hospital. In this episode, we sit down with Sherika Newman, DO, who joined the team as Director of Palliative Medicine in 2014. Upon arrival, Sherika’s team had six consults on their charts. At the end of fiscal year 2016, the team saw 914 new consults and 2,200 in total. While this is a remarkable uptick in activity, with growth comes growing pains. Sherika discusses how she was able to work successfully with referring physicians to build a bridge between specialties and find the right consults. She also gives her tips on managing staff wellness and shares how using data helped gain her support and buy-in from her institution.

Our guest today is Debora Gleason, who is currently the clinical manager for all palliative care programs at Optio Health Services within The Denver Hospice. Debra has a lot to teach us about expanding palliative care into the home setting, and is a great advocate for palliative care.

Our palliative care program spotlight series continues with a fascinating chat with John Mulder, MD, FAAHPM, CHMD, the Medical Director of Trillium Institute and Holland Home Palliative Care. Holland Home began its clinical services in 2007 with home based and skilled nursing facility consultations, added hospital consult services in 2008, and outpatient clinics in 2011. Trillium Institute launched in 2014 with the purpose of developing a portfolio of educational resources for local universities, public events, professional schools and health care institutions, and also to implement navigation services for patients and families living with serious illness. Our chat with John covers how these programs have evolved through this growth. John is big on educating the community at large on what palliative care is and he’s a great spokesman for the benefits of palliative care.

The palliative care program spotlight series goes to the stars with a really interesting behind the scenes look at the Motion Picture and Television Fund, operated by UCLA Health. In this episode, we speak with Nurse Practitioner Linda Healy and Chaplain Rabbi Arthur Rosenberg. This is a wonderful program that was set up to help the entertainment community get proper care when facing serious illness. The program comprises geriatricians, nurse practitioners, nurses, licensed clinical social workers, chaplains, dietitians and activity coordinators. Guidance and counseling is also provided for those struggling with complex decision making about medical issues.