In response to the nation’s growing demand for physicians trained in advance care planning conversations, the California State University Institute for Palliative Care has partnered with the Coalition for Compassionate Care of California to co-design a comprehensive continuing education curriculum for health care professionals.

New this year, Medicare providers can be reimbursed for advance care planning conversations with patients. The newly implemented reimbursement provides an impetus for clinicians to spend time exploring patient health care preferences and documenting goals of care.

“Patients want to have these conversations with their providers, and providers need to be paid for the time a meaningful conversation requires,” said Helen McNeal, executive director of the CSU Institute for Palliative Care. “The problem is that clinicians haven’t learned how to talk about advance care planning with patients, and their billing departments don’t know how to use the new billing codes.”

The new online curriculum, "Effective Advance Care Planning: Skills Building for the Entire Organization," provides detailed information about the critical components of advance care planning and billing in an accessible, cost-effective format. Due to their online format, health care professionals from around the country can take the courses at a time and place convenient to them.

Starting this May, the following self-paced courses will be open for registration:

• Effective Advance Care Planning Fundamentals


• Facilitating an Advance Care Planning Conversation


• Building Engagement with Advance Care Planning


• Billing for Advance Care Planning Conversations

“Reimbursement for advance care planning is a game changer,” said Judy Thomas, CEO of the Coalition for Compassionate Care of California. “Advance care planning is an essential component of patient-centered, quality health care. Professionals with advance care planning expertise are able to identify and clarify individuals’ choices regarding medical treatment.”

For more information, click here.