Capital Caring Kids Named Tipping Point Challenge Finalist

Falls Church, VA – February 15

Capital Caring Kids was selected as a finalist in the second nation-wide Tipping Point Challenge – an innovation and quality improvement challenge from the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) and The John A. Hartford Foundation.

This round of the Challenge focused on innovation that has made, or will make, positive, breakthrough change in the care of a high-need patient population—those with serious illness. Our initiative, Virtual Pediatric Multidisciplinary Rounds Enhance Regionwide Program Cohesion, was submitted and has been recognized as a finalist.  

Authors:

1. Dr. David Steinhorn, Pediatric Hospice and Palliative Physician, Capital Caring Kids
2. Tara Hoit, Executive Director, Capital Caring Kids
3. Allison Kuchar, Director of Pediatric Care Coordination, Capital Caring Kids
4. Deborah Lafond, RN, CNMC
5. Dr. Alva Roche-Green, INOVA
6. Dr. Candyce Greene, INOVA
7. Dr. Natalie S. Hauser, INOVA
8. Dr. Laila Mahmood, CNMC

Project Description 

We developed a multi-institutional virtual rounding program for children’s Hospice and Palliative Medicine centered in the largest regional community-based pediatric hospice and referring tertiary children’s hospitals, Children’s National Medical Center and INOVA Children’s.

Program Design

Pediatric patients under concurrent care move back and forth between hospital and home/community care. Maintaining seamless communication is essential but can be a challenge when multiple providers in multiple institutions are involved. Pediatric programs often have few patients compared with adult hospice in any community. Additionally, community-based programs often cover large geographic regions with

many satellite offices, making in-person IDG team meetings difficult. Adult providers continue to be less familiar with pediatric concurrent care practices than dedicated pediatric providers. We set out to bring all pediatric RN case managers (RNCM) under one division while simultaneously creating a strong partnership with the major tertiary children’s hospitals in our region. We leveraged teleconferencing technology (Zoom) to allow RNCMs to present and discuss patients under the direction of pediatric specialists.  RNCMs report high satisfaction and program efficacy.

Impact

The provision of concurrent care through the ACA has allowed us to provide this care possible for children. Ultimately, this system provides consistency for all patients in the region regardless of their primary institution or where they live. Achieving uniformity and consistency of care is an underappreciated benefit of the program we have developed because it reduces disparities that arise depending on where a child lives and who provides the care. Coordinating care with a child’s outside providers, creates a tight net of support as they continue to pursue curative treatments while receiving the added layer of support from our hospice care at home.

Media Contact:

Tara Hoit

Executive Director, Capital Caring Kids

THoit@capitalcaring.org

540-295-7223

###

About Capital Caring Health: As a nonprofit, community-based organization founded in 1977, Capital Caring Health has become one of the most experienced and respected providers of hospice, palliative, and elder care services in the country. Our compassionate hospice and palliative care doctors, nurses and physician and nursing assistants are board-certified, advanced certified, or specialty-trained, in hospice and palliative medicine. CCH spends more than $3.2 million annually to fund care for those who lack coverage or the necessary financial resources for services. Almost 90 cents of every dollar go to caring for patients and their families. Over the years, Capital Caring Health has provided hospice, palliative care, and counseling to nearly 120,000 patients and their families through our regional neighborhood network across Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.