Dr. Sunita Puri

CHAPCA is proud to have Dr. Sunita Puri as the opening keynote speaker

Dr. Puri's new book, That Good Night: Life and Medicine in the Eleventh Hour, discusses how hospice and palliative care specialists are working to change medicine from within by teaching doctors how to better communicate with patients-not just about their illness, but their hopes and fears.

Jennifer Kennedy

Closing keynote session by Jennifer Kennedy

The conference will close with the Awards Luncheon, Annual Meeting and a regulatory update from Jennifer Kennedy, Senior Director of Regulatory and Quality from the National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization. Jennifer will provide a timely update on new rules that will go into effect Oct. 1st!

Hospice GIP Documentation
This session will provide an overview of the levels of hospice care, coverage requirements and appropriate documentation for utilization of the general inpatient (GIP) level of care.

Hospice Billing: Avoiding Costly Mistakes
Errors in Medicare Billing can be costly to a hospice agency in denial of payment, time spent appealing denials, and loss of time to chase revenue. During this session we will talk about top denials, rejections and return to provider (RTP) claims and ways to avoid costly mistakes.

NGS LCD 33393
This educational material will deliver a comprehensive understanding of admission of patients with a terminal prognosis to hospice as per the LCD 33393.

Terminal Decline Continued Eligibility
This educational session will offer the provider thorough comprehension of continued hospice eligibility requirements with the terminally ill patient.

Making the Most of Your NGS Resources
This session will focus on a variety of resources that are produced by National Government Services and are free to access. During this session we will take a live tutorial of the National Government Services website and learn about the tools available. We will review Medicare University and NGSConnex. The NGSConnex portal is to provide a one-stop shop to find the information and communicate with National Government Services in a secure portal.

Planning, Preparing and Understanding Targeted Probe and Educate (TPE)
A good compliance plan requires being prepared and understanding the Targeted Probe and Educate (TPE) process. During this session we will discuss the history behind TPE, data used to identify potential issues. We will discuss how to respond to an ADR, what documentation to send and time frames for sending documentation.

Approaches to Medication and Symptom Management in Hospice
Proper management of medications used to treat symptoms at the end of life is essential to safe, effective and quality care. This webinar will review common end of life symptoms and the proper pharmacological interventions suggested for each.

Nursing Facility Partnership: Understanding the Regulations
Hospice providers are caring for an increasing number of residents residing in nursing facilities. As there has been increasing relationships between the two providers, so has there been an increase in surveyor scrutiny. This session will address the Nursing Facility Surveyor Interpretative Guidelines that were published in the Mega Rule and implications for both providers in providing care.

What is EMDR, and How It Can Be Useful in Working with Dying Patients
What is EMDR, and How It Can Be Useful in Working with Dying Patients. This presentation describes EMDR theory and its process, then explain through case studies how it is being used in real-time hospice work. Though the concept and full protocols of EMDR appear to be rigid and rigorous this presentation will demonstrate the artistry and flexibility that can achieve positive results for the patient and family enduring the end of life process.

An Overview of California State Disability Insurance
This informative workshop presented by the Employment Development Department provides an overview of California’s State Disability Insurance program. Attendees will learn about Disability Insurance and Paid Family Leave benefits: their differences and similarities, who is eligible, how to apply, and more. There will be a Q&A session to follow.

Hospice and Assisted Living Regulations
Sometimes the hospice policies and our Department of Social Services assisted living regulations are in conflict. Learn what we can and cannot do in assisted living during this session.

Medical Marijuana in Hospice and Palliative Care
Caring for patients on hospice may require a more in-depth knowledge of various cannabis products and different administration routes that may be utilized. Supporting literature exists for use of some of these marijuana products, dosing, indications, side effects, and interactions, however may not be readily retrievable by the practicing hospice nurse. Integration of a patient-specific approach to identifying conditions that may be improved with the use of medical marijuana, as well as a working knowledge of active compounds in cannabis and their ratios. Additionally, we would like to achieve preparedness to anticipate and manage drug interactions and adverse effects from the use of medical marijuana.

Be Brave: Strategies for having the hard conversations about medication de-prescribing
This presentation will discuss suggestions and strategies to help patients and families make informed, evidence-based decisions for medication management at end of life with attention to three categories of medications: related and palliative, related but not palliative and not related / not palliative.

Promising Practices and Challenges for Delivering SB 1004 Palliative Care
California's SB 1004 mandates that seriously ill patients enrolled in managed Medi-Cal plans have access to palliative care services. In this session we will review the key features of SB 1004, as well as data describing provider and health plan experiences, lessons learned and promising practices related to planning and implementing required services.

Peaceful Heart Principle
This session will: 1. Present an overview of the process Interim HealthCare Hospice took to create a program that encapsulates sensory components of it's hospice services. 2. Present the goals of the program and their importance to end of life care. 3. Review the program benefits to patients, family members and staff.

Hospice Compare: Tracking and Improving Outcomes
We will review Hospice Compare’s reporting of the Hospice Item Set (HIS) and Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) surveys. Participants will be guided to analyze and compare their own data; assess strengths and weaknesses; and develop strategies to improve their scores.

Palliative Care Spectrum
Review the role of Palliative care in primary care, specialty clinics and community; learning how to break the barriers of misunderstandings in Palliative care and how we can expand Palliative care services.

• We worked with Radio Bilingue to develop a project built on Hispanic oral traditions by using word of mouth to pass along information about hospice options. One component of the project was Latino patients and families sharing their experiences on the air, while hospice staff added their comments to the discussion, all in Spanish.


• We collaborated with California schools and developed a brochure to assist teens in dealing with grief.


• We worked with AIDS programs to improve the care for individuals with AIDS.


• Collaboration with the California Medical Association resulted in legislation that required Physicians to complete 12 hours continuing medical education on end of life care including Pain Management and Treatment of the Terminally Ill and Dying Patient.

• With AARP we developed a program for Seniors that fostered conversation between family and loved ones.


• We have long been active in efforts to reach out to veteran populations. We served on the national VAHPC Community Outreach Workgroup, and established an active California HVP steering committee. In addition we worked closely with the Veterans Administration to assure that all veterans in California have Hospice as a covered benefit.


• In partnership with California Assisted Living Association, we jointly advocate with the California Department of Social Services to improve hospice service in assisted living facilities.


• With the Children’s Hospice and Palliative Care Coalition, we are beginning a project to identify best practices in hospice services to children.