Schedule and Description of Talks
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Update in Cancer Rehabilitation & Survivorship Care (Julie Silver, MD)
This presentation focuses on new research and best practices in cancer rehabilitation and survivorship care. There are many new developments in survivorship care as this is a growing field with important changes occurring throughout the United States. This talk covers key changes and how they affect cancer rehabilitation care. The focus of this presentation is on understanding the latest and forthcoming changes and incorporating them into a best practices cancer rehabilitation service line model.
Bio: Julie Silver, MD
Julie Silver, MD is an associate professor at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. She is an award-winning author and has edited/written many books including After Cancer Treatment: Heal Faster, Better, Stronger (Johns Hopkins Press) and What Helped Get Me Through: Cancer Survivors Share Wisdom and Hope (American Cancer Society). She is the co-founder of Oncology Rehab Partners which has developed the STAR Program Certification—a best practices and evidence-based model for a cancer rehabilitation clinical service line that has been adopted by more than 100 hospitals throughout the United States. Currently, she is on the medical staff at Spaulding Rehabilitation, Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s hospitals. Her work has been featured on many national media outlets including The Today Show, The Early Show, Dr. Oz, ABC News, BBC, The Wall Street Journal, AARP Radio and NPR.
STAR Program Opportunities & Outcomes (Jeanne Simard, RN, MBA)
This presentation focuses on the four outcomes categories that the STAR Program supports: 1. clinician education; 2. patient function; 3. patient satisfaction; and, 4. referrals and revenue. The talk will present outcomes data from current programs as well as explain opportunities for improving outcomes data collection and reporting.
Bio: Jeanne Simard, RN, MBA
Jeanne Simard is the Corporate Vice President for Oncology Rehab Partners. Jeanne is passionate about helping hospitals and cancer centers implement an evidence-based cancer rehabilitation service line with the STAR Program. She is a registered nurse with a clinical background in critical care and neurology. She received her MBA from the Katz School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh and over the past two decades has held numerous senior level leadership positions in the healthcare industry spanning the care continuum.
Integrating Oncology Rehabilitation and Survivorship through the Continuum of Care – Prehab, Acute Care, Outpatient Rehab, and Home Health (Lori McKitrick, MA CCC/SLP, MBA)
This presentation describes a systematic approach implemented in a healthcare system to integrate rehabilitation services into the cancer survivor continuum of care. The presentation will cover how to systematically incorporate rehabilitation services into the multidisciplinary care of the cancer survivor and illustrate education, marketing strategies, and outcome measures used to justify the need for therapy throughout the continuum of care (prehab, treatment phase, post-treatment).
Bio: Lori McKitrick, MA CCC/SLP, MBA
Lori McKitrick is the STAR Program Coordinator and Rehab Director for Bon Secours St. Francis Health System in Greenville, SC. She holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Speech and Hearing Sciences from Ohio University, a Masters of Arts degree in Speech-Language Pathology from Ohio University, and a Master’s in Business Administration from Clemson University. She is a STAR Clinician and has worked in rehabilitation medicine for over 16 years. Lori is committed to developing and implementing rehabilitation programs that put the patient at the center, are evidenced based, and outcomes driven. She is a 2012 recipient of the Dream Achievers award from the YWCA that was given in recognition of leading the STAR Program at Bon Secours. She enjoys running, completing triathlons and spending time with her husband and 3 young boys.
Designing a Communications and Marketing Plan for the STAR Program (Drew Snyder, MHA)
This presentation provides a case study from Memorial Medical Center, a 500-bed community hospital in Springfield, Illinois. The lecture will cover how to design a communications and marketing plan, at minimal expense, to launch the STAR Program. The focus of this talk is on the launch and the early post-launch period for marketing; however, many of the strategies are applicable for all STAR Programs. Participants will be offered tools to use in developing a communications plan to address the market, physicians, patients, participating staff, and organization.
Bio: Drew Snyder, MHA, STAR/P
Drew Snyder is the Director, Oncology Services at Memorial Medical Center in Springfield, IL. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Health Information Management from Saint Louis University and a Master of Health Administration from Saint Louis University. As Director of Oncology Services he oversees all the cancer center departments such as radiation therapy, infusion, cancer research, cancer registry, and all support services to cancer patients. Prior to his current role he was the Director of Business Development and Support at Memorial Health System. In this role he led planning and implementation efforts for many new programs for the health system. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with his wife, daughter, and Great Dane.
Integration of Outpatient Cancer Rehabilitation Services into the Cancer Survivor Continuum of Care in an NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center: A Systematic Approach (Laurie Sweet, PT)
This presentation describes a systematic approach implemented in a large medical institution to integrate outpatient rehabilitation services into the cancer survivor continuum of care. The presentation will cover how to systematically incorporate rehabilitation services into the multidisciplinary care of the cancer survivor and illustrate education, marketing strategies, and outcome measures used to justify the need for therapy throughout the continuum of care.
Bio: Laurie Sweet, PT
Laurie Sweet is the STAR Program Coordinator at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. She received her Master’s degree from the University of Delaware and has over 10 years of clinical experience with a focus for the past few years on cancer rehabilitation. Laurie has been responsible for the multidisciplinary management of the outpatient rehabilitation clinics at Johns Hopkins inclusive of program growth and development for PT, OT and SLP services. She is a STAR Clinician and is currently responsible for managing the cancer rehabilitation program at Johns Hopkins. Laurie presented the increase in cancer rehabilitation referrals with a best practices service line approach at the American Physical Therapy Association’s CSM in January 2013. She has been successful in directing the integration of rehabilitation services into cancer care continuum at Johns Hopkins.
Building Bridges, Coordinating Care and Expanding the Reach of Cancer Rehabilitation (Amy DeRamus, BS, LPTA)
This presentation describes the STAR Program implementation process and strategies of a healthcare system consisting of three hospitals, a regional cancer center and a comprehensive rehabilitation continuum that includes long term acute care, inpatient rehabilitation, outpatient rehabilitation, home health, hospice, PACE, skilled nursing facilities and multiple physician practices. The presentation will cover the importance of building collaborative bridges and breaking down silos in order to provide patients with coordinated care.
Bio: Amy DeRamus, BS, LPTA
Amy DeRamus is the STAR Program Coordinator for Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and the Business Manager for Outpatient Rehabilitation at Centra in Lynchburg, VA. She graduated from Penn State University in 2000 and has 13 years of clinical experience. She is a STAR Clinician and has spent the past three years focusing on raising awareness for Oncology Rehabilitation in Lynchburg and the surrounding areas through educating providers and the community. Amy is passionate about early access for rehabilitation intervention and delivery of care that is patient centered, evidenced based and yields positive patient outcomes. She has been instrumental in implementing clinical pathways for breast and head and neck cancer patients to facilitate early access of rehabilitation throughout the continuum at Centra.
Closing the Gap between the Evidence Based Need for Cancer Rehabilitation Services and the Delivery of Care (Julie Silver, MD)
Research demonstrates a significant unmet need for cancer rehabilitation services. This presentation focuses on the current need—both met and unmet—in the scientific literature as well as in STAR Programs. The talk will highlight the results of the Strength in Numbers campaign that launched STAR Programs participated in over the past few weeks. The focus is on explaining what is working well in STAR Programs and new opportunities that might exist to improve screening for all cancer patients and referrals to cancer rehabilitation healthcare professionals for appropriate patients.
Developing a Cognitive Rehabilitation Service Line (Joette Zola, OTR)
This talk will provide an overview of the development and implementation of treatment that focuses on managing the cognitive challenges patients face post cancer diagnosis and treatment. It will review the Multi-Factor Model of Function that forms the basis of the program. It will include an overview of a feasibility study that is currently in progress by highlighting a logic model, preliminary outcomes and case examples. It will discuss strategies/ processes to support consistent care/ implementation of treatment content across multiple therapists and sites.
Bio: Joette Zola, OTR
Joette Zola is an occupational therapist who practices at the Brain Injury Clinic at the Sister Kenny Rehabilitation Institute of Allina Health. She has focused the last 12 years of her career on working with clients with mild to moderate brain injury. She has been able to use the concepts and strategies from the clinic to assist with development of treatment concepts for patients that are experiencing mild cognitive impairment due to cancer and effects of treatment in her role as Lead for the STAR Cognitive team. She is part of a team of clinicians that are currently involved in research to determine the effectiveness of the treatment protocol. The STAR Program team was recently a recipient of the Allina Excellence Award.
Providing Program Outcomes (Sue Potts, PT)
Outcomes Management is an integral way to measure the effectiveness of any program. With over 400 tools in the therapy world, identifying those that will show the most significant changes for the cancer patient becomes critical. Medicare reimbursement will also become increasing dependent on outcome reporting. This talk will be a review of outcome expectations from a CARF perspective as well of a review of how to set up an outcomes program for a cancer rehabilitation service line.
Bio: Sue Potts, PT
Sue Potts is the STAR Program Coordinator and a Rehab Manager at St. Jude Centers for Rehabilitation and Wellness in Brea, CA. She has her Bachelors of Science degree in Physical Therapy from California State University Long Beach and has been working in Rehabilitation Medicine since 1980. Her outpatient programs, including the Star Program, have been reviewed and credentialed by the Commission for the Accreditation of Rehab Facilities (CARF). Her focus is improving patient care by supporting and instituting evidence based practice, supporting professional education and critically analyzing and assessing results with documented outcomes.
Building Awareness of a Cancer Rehabilitation Service Line through Marketing & PR (Inna Svirskiy, STAR Program Marketing Manager)
This presentation focuses on the marketing and PR efforts of STAR Programs, with specific examples of how they have used the marketing templates, tools and strategies. Many programs have also created their own tools and innovative strategies that complement the STAR Program materials, and these will be highlighted as well. This presentation shares best practice strategies for cancer rehabilitation service-line awareness and marketing and provides conference participants with new ideas to increase program referrals.
Bio: Inna Svirskiy, STAR Program Marketing Manager
Inna Svirskiy is the Marketing Manager for Oncology Rehab Partners. Inna is dedicated to assisting hospitals and cancer centers implement the STAR Program. In her current role, Inna is actively working with approximately 100 STAR Programs-from community hospitals to NCI Comprehensive Cancer Centers. She has an in-depth understanding of the value of effectively marketing a cancer rehabilitation service line in order to promote excellent care. Inna has worked in healthcare marketing for nearly a decade.
Workshops
Session 1
Brainstorming Cancer Rehabilitation Reimbursement: Current & Future
There are many new and future changes that will affect cancer rehabilitation care and reimbursement. This workshop is designed to facilitate a discussion with STAR Program participants about best practices for documentation, coding and billing as well as consider future barriers and opportunities.
Brainstorming EMR Strategies for Success in Survivorship & Cancer Rehabilitation
Many STAR Program participants have had questions about how to best utilize their EMR to facilitate documentation for clinical services, tracking outcomes and developing a Survivorship Care Plan. This session is designed to facilitate a discussion with participants about how they have utilized their EMR and what barriers and opportunities may exist.
Session 2
Brainstorming Best Practices in Cancer Prehabilitation
Prehabilitation is becoming an increasingly important part of cancer care. This session will lead participants through a mock STAR Program Prehab workshop and then facilitate a discussion about best practices in cancer prehabilitation. The discussion will cover screening, referrals, outcomes and reimbursement.
Brainstorming how the STAR Program Certification helps with other Hospital Accreditations
Many STAR Program participants have questions about how this certification helps with other valued hospital accreditation such as the Joint Commission, Commission on Cancer (CoC), National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC), Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) and Magnet. This session will provide a discussion of how the STAR Program aligns with other valued hospital accreditation. The discussion will focus on how to best implement and document goals and strategies for upcoming surveys.
