REGISTRATION: 

Registration per session: $125 CCCC members; $150 nonmembers
Registration for both sessions: $200 CCCC members; $250 nonmembers

PLEASE NOTE: Registration closes at 11:00 pm (PDT) on March 28, 2024.

April 2, 2024 – 9:00 am to 12:00 pm

Speed Ethics: An Interactive Crash Course in Identifying and Understanding Ethical Problems in Palliative Care

• Jennifer Moore Ballentine, MA, CEO, Coalition for Compassionate Care of California
• Shirley Otis-Green, MSW, MA, ACSW, LCSW, OSW-CE, FNAP, FAOSW, Founder, Collaborative Consulting
• Pramita Kuruvilla, MD, FAAFP, HEC-C, Associate Clinical Professor, UCSF School of Medicine

This fun, fast-paced workshop will provide clinicians and leaders with an overview of healthcare ethics, applications for quality palliative care, and useful tools for recognizing and defining ethical problems for the attention of the interdisciplinary team or ethics committee. The goal is to equip attendees with a ready awareness of the ethical implications of clinical encounters and respond quickly and effectively to ethical dilemmas and conflicts. Presenters offer decades of combined experience from several disciplines and long-term engagement with clinical ethics and palliative care. Attendees will receive distilled and actionable didactic information, apply concepts to real-world cases, and work in small groups to synthesize learning: How to recognize ethical dilemmas when they arise; how to pinpoint and articulate core conflicts; how to apply ethical principles and begin work toward resolution. (2.5 hours of continuing education credit available for nurses, social workers, and chaplains.)

OBJECTIVES

• Recognize and quickly respond to ethical dilemmas when they arise.
• Pinpoint and articulate core conflicts.
• Apply ethical principles to conflicts and begin work toward resolution.

FACULTY

Jennifer Moore Ballentine, MA, CEO, Coalition for Compassionate Care of California is an educator, consultant, and advocate with more than 20 years' experience and expertise in palliative care and hospice, adult education, healthcare ethics and policy. She is the former Executive Director of the California State University Shiley Haynes Institute for Palliative Care and previously held numerous leadership roles. Ms. Ballentine serves on the Palliative Care Council for the Coalition to Transform Advanced Care Regulatory Council; the Palliative Care Advisory Panel for the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics, University of Southern California. She has delivered hundreds of in-services, Grand Rounds, professional trainings, and state and national workshops, as well as keynote and plenary presentations at professional and academic conferences in the field of palliative care.

Shirley Otis-Green, MSW, MA, ACSW, LCSW, OSW-CE, FNAP, FAOSW, is a palliative and oncology social worker and the founder of Collaborative Caring. Her career is dedicated to enhancing excellence in the delivery of culturally-congruent, person-centered, and family-focused interprofessional care. Ms. Otis-Green's education, research, and consultation efforts have led her to become an internationally recognized speaker on quality-of-life, palliative care, leadership development, and the creation of meaningful organizational change. Her work has been recognized with numerous awards and disseminated through more than 100 publications and 500 professional presentations. She is a California Health Care Foundation Leadership Fellow, serves on several editorial and professional boards, and is a Distinguished Social Work Practitioner in the National Academies of Practice. Ms. Otis-Green was among the first to receive an international, interprofessional Master of Arts in Health Research ~ Palliative Care from Lancaster University in Great Britain, and is co-editor of the Oxford Textbook of Palliative Social Work.

Pramita Kuruvilla, MD, FAAFP, HEC-C, is a palliative care physician who worked for many years as an ICU physician and bioethics consultant prior to coming to UCSF, and she has extensive experience caring for patients and families navigating critical illness. She earned her medical degree at Yale University School of Medicine, then completed a family medicine residency at UCSF-affiliated Contra Costa Regional Medical Center (CCRMC). She completed her fellowship in hospice and palliative medicine at UCSF. Prior to joining UCSF, she was assistant medical director of Critical Care Services, chair of the CCRMC Bioethics Committee, and a volunteer with Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in peri-civil war Côte d'Ivoire. Pramita is currently an associate professor of Medicine at UCSF, where she works clinically with the Symptom Management Service at the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and the inpatient Palliative Care Service.

April 2, 2024 – 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm (PDT)

Location TBA – Hyatt Regency or Sacramento Capitol/Environs

Policy in Practice: Introductions and Updates Key to Quality Palliative Care

• Susan Rodrigues, Assistant Director, Office of the Long-Term Care Patient Representative, California Department of Aging
• A representative from the office of Assemblymember Marie Waldron
• Jennifer Snyder, MHA, Partner, Capitol Advocacy
• Susan DeMarois, Director, California Department of Aging
  
• And other special guests TBA

Join CCCC for a deep dive into the important policy and advocacy issues facing palliative care, advance care planning, serious illness, and aging in California. Jennifer Snyder of Capitol Advocacy will offer an overview of the legislative process and how you can engage with law- and policymakers on matters most important to you and your patients. Susan DeMarois will provide an update on the Master Plan on Aging and other key initiatives, supports, and services available across the state. CCCC staff and Public Policy Committee members will summarize bills or regulatory issues that are active for 2024 and beyond, highlighting relevance to you, your work, and the people in your care. Other special guests including legislators and agency staff will be announced closer to the time. (Continuing education is not offered for this session.)

FACULTY

Susan Rodrigues, MSW is a social worker with over 25 years of experience working in the field of aging.  She is currently an Assistant Director of the Office of the Long-Term Care Patient Representative (OLTCPR) within the California Department of Aging (CDA).  This office oversees a program to participate in interdisciplinary team meetings for unrepresented residents in skilled and intermediate care facilities when a medical decision needs to be made that requires informed consent.  Additional roles at CDA include serving as a program analyst and manager for the Multipurpose Senior Services Program, a Medicaid waiver program designed to prevent institutionalization. Prior to working at CDA, Susan served as a Deputy Public Guardian for Sacramento County, the San Diego County Ombudsman Program Coordinator and was a skilled nursing facility social worker. 

A representative from the office of Assemblymember Marie Waldron will answer your questions about AB 941, a bill to establish a framework governing psychedelic-assisted therapies. Assm Waldron is Vice Chair for the Assembly Health Committee and a current member of the Mental Health caucus and the Select Committee on Fentanyl, Opioid Addiction, and Overdose Prevention. She has been honored as “Legislator of the Year” from both the CA Life Sciences Association and the California Chronic Care Coalition. 

Jennifer Snyder, MHA, a partner at Capitol Advocacy, brings over 25 years of policy development, community relations, and advocacy experience to the firm. She is considered one of California’s top lobbyists in the healthcare arena and has been instrumental in negotiating key rate and policy changes in the Medi-Cal program. Ms. Snyder has a keen understanding of California’s complex health care issues, coupled with her extensive background working for several health care organizations, and she has advocated on behalf of the biotechnology industry, supporting their continued viability and advances in research and development in California. Before joining Capitol Advocacy, Ms. Snyder served in a variety of government relations capacities at the California Association for Health Services at Home, the California Association of Health Facilities, the California Alliance of Child and Family Services, and the California Hospital Association. Her extensive experience working for this diverse group of healthcare organizations and associations has led her to become an industry expert on issues related to long-term care, social, and health care services. She has a degree in political science from California State University, Chico and a Master’s Degree in Health Administration from the University of San Francisco. She enjoys running and biking around Folsom Lake and volunteers with Meals on Wheels in her local community. She lives in Granite Bay with her husband Brian and son Colton.

Susan DeMarois was appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to serve as Director of the California Department of Aging effective November 1, 2021. As Director, Ms. DeMarois is committed to stakeholder engagement; equity and inclusion; and system transformation to prepare our state for the year 2030 when one in four Californians will be aged 60 or older. Prior to joining CDA, Director DeMarois led public policy and advocacy for the national Alzheimer’s Association in California, serving as the nonprofit organization’s registered lobbyist in Sacramento where she advocated for legislative, budget, and regulatory changes at the state capitol. The organization led the effort to enact the first dementia early detection initiative in the nation focused on the Medicaid population: SB 48 (Limón) signed into law by Governor Newsom. Ms. DeMarois served as an appointee to Governor Newsom’s Alzheimer’s Prevention and Preparedness Task Force, chaired by former First Lady Maria Shriver, in addition to the Master Plan for Aging Stakeholder Advisory Committee, a workgroup established by Executive Order. In addition, she represented the Alzheimer’s Association on the CalHHS Agency Secretary’s Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Advisory Committee. Before working for the Alzheimer’s Association, Ms. DeMarois led government and community relations for the UC Davis Health System where she gained deep health policy and clinical workforce experience. Early in her career, she worked for LeadingAge California, the professional trade association representing not-for-profit housing, residential care and skilled nursing providers along with home and community-based services.

Continuing education is offered for the Speed Ethics session only. Full attendance at this live workshop is a prerequisite for receiving professional continuing education credit. You are also required to complete an online survey within 14 days following the workshop to receive a CE certificate or certificate of attendance. A link to the evaluation will be provided in an email sent to you within 48 hours following the workshop. Certificates will be sent via email. 

Physicians/PAs: Application is being made to the AAFP. CME credits are sponsored by Partnership HealthPlan of California.

Nursing: Provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider #CEP 15403, for 2.5 contact hours.

Social Work: Course meets the qualifications for 2.5 contact hours of continuing education credit for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and/or LEPs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. CCCC is approved by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists to sponsor continuing education for LCSWs and LMFTs, Provider #91987.

Chaplains: This program may be used for continuing education credit for chaplains certified with the Board of Chaplaincy Certification Inc.

Registration substitutions are allowed and encouraged. If you must cancel your registration, send written cancellation requests via email to [email protected]. 

Cancellations received before March 1, 2024 are subject to a $25 administrative fee. NO REFUNDS will be issued for cancellations received on or after March 2, 2024.

Hotel cancellation is the responsibility of the registrant and must be done no less than 72 hours prior to arrival.

ANY QUESTIONS? CCCC maintains responsibility for this course and its content. Please contact us at (916) 489-2222 or email [email protected] with any questions, to address a grievance, or to request special ADA accommodation needs.