Addison Gilbert and Beverly Hospitals- Members of Lahey Health, an Honoring Choices Community Partner, are hosting “Dementia Across the Continuum” – A NICHE (Nurses Improving Care for Healthsystem Elders) Program Regional Conference, on April 29,2016  at the Crown Plaza,Woburn.  Participants will  be treated to key speaker Alice Bonner, PhD, RN, FAAN, MA Secretary of Elder…

Beginning in February, Honoring Choices Massachusetts is collaborating with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (“Blue Cross”) to offer courses on care planning and communication to its 3,600 employees through our Employee Wellness Health Care Planning Program.  Blue Cross, an Honoring Choices Alliance Partner, is taking to lead among Massachusetts’ health care leaders to fully…

Today we are so pleased to announce our partnership with the American Cancer Society, Inc., New England Region (ACS) to work together to increase access to person-centered care for all adults, and to support its mission to improve the quality of life for patients living with cancer. ACS, in collaboration with Massachusetts Department of Public…

The Conversation Project, an Honoring Choices Collaborating Partner, is helping congregations this week to celebrate their readiness to talk about their end of life care wishes. Starting November 6 and continuing through to November 15, dozens of congregations in the Greater Boston area, regardless of religious denomination, are coming together for “Conversation Sabbath”.  Clergy leaders…

CMS Makes Advance Care Planning Discussions Reimbursable  On October 30, 2015, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a change in the regulations allowing reimbursements to  physicians and other qualified professionals for engaging in advance care planning discussions with patients and families, Health Care Agents and Guardians. This long hoped-for change is now official.…

Last Wednesday,  over 50 South Shore care providers and community groups, from Quincy to Plymouth and the Cape, came together to learn about health care planning information and tools, and to plan their next steps in building a strong community network of person-centered care. The October 28 workshop, “Honoring Choices: Health care Planning through Conversations…

“We had a terrific exchange of information and ideas,” says Amy Winning, Director of Community Relations,  “and the group left feeling more empowered about their right to communicate what they want for their health care.”  As an Honoring Choices Community Partner,  Ms. Winning of Tribute Home Care in Charlestown,  provided a “Who’s Your Agent?” presentation…

The members of Emerson Hospital’s Care Transitions Collaborative know that advanced care planning is an important aspect of receiving quality care.  At their meeting on August 14 attended by about 20 community organizations, Leslie May-Chibani, Assistant Director of Minuteman Senior Services,  suggested that the group consider the materials offered by Honoring Choices Massachusetts to improve…

 “We are honored to participate in the Medicare Care Choices Model,” said Care Dimensions President and CEO Diane Stringer. “We know this is an important step to allow for increased choice and improved healthcare for terminally ill patients.”  Care Dimensions, an Honoring Choices Community Partner, is one of three organizations selected in Massachusetts to participate…

Monica Dube, DNP, FNP-BC, a family nurse practitioner at Lahey Health System, Primary Care in Lexington, co-conducted a study to assess the prevalence of advance care planning  discussions and to identify barriers and facilitators to these discussions by nurse practitioners. “Education, time, and systems factors were found to impact these discussions”, says Ms. Dubee. “We…