Change-Makers in the Movement to Do Better by America's Seriously Ill Gather for the National Summit of the Coalition to Transform Advanced Care (C-TAC)

WASHINGTON, Sept. 20, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The nonprofit, nonpartisan C-TAC is hosting leaders from across the country with the goal of making progress on the most pressing issues in advanced illness care at their National Summit, September 20-21 in Washington, DC. These leaders call for the nation to do better by America's most ill, and often most vulnerable.  

Looking ahead to the two-day event, C-TAC Board Co-Chair and Co-Founder Tom Koutsoumpas says, "The Summit reflects our strength as a coalition. We are a group of experts in varied fields who care deeply, who want to learn from each other, and who will move this mountain. I'm inspired and humbled to think of members of Congress and the Cabinet, family caregivers, frontline doctors and nurses, CEOs of health systems, academic researchers, faith leaders, and technology experts working side-by-side at the Summit for an America where people with advanced illness get high quality, person- and-family-centered care."     

Highlights among the two days of sessions include:

• "The Changing Political Landscape" with Senators Tom Daschle and William H. Frist, MD.
• "Live with Lucy Kalanithi" with Lucy Kalanithi, MD, FACP. Dr. Kalanithi is Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at Stanford School of Medicine and the widow of Dr. Paul Kalanithi whose memoir of his journey through advanced illness became a New York Times #1 bestseller.
• "Psilocybin and the Next Frontier in Psychological Support for Those Living with Advanced Illness." Michael Pollan—John S. and James L. Knight Professor of Journalism at UC Berkeley, bestselling author, and New York Times Magazine contributor—moderates a panel exploring the role of drugs like psilocybin and marijuana in providing psychological support for those with advanced illness.
• "Beyond the Hospital: Community-Clinical Partnerships." A perspective on redefining the patient-provider-health system relationship with Rick Pollack, President and CEO, American Hospital Association.

Among other topics to be discussed are applying proven care delivery models on a larger scale and faith-based interventions.

The Summit reflects the value of C-TAC.  The coalition is a "big tent" for disparate stakeholders such as hospitals, consumer advocates, health care payers, ethicists, and physicians who want to work together, but do not always get that chance. C-TAC members and all Summit attendees gather not just to talk, but to take action.  

Bill Novelli C-TAC Board Co-Chair and former AARP CEO explains, "In 2014, a consensus report from the National Academy of Medicine affirmed that 'broad improvements to end of life care are within reach.'   But, that only matters if we actually reach for them. That is our intention with this Summit and in our daily work as a coalition."  

About C-TAC
The Coalition to Transform Advanced Care (C-TAC) is a national nonprofit, nonpartisan alliance of patient and consumer advocacy groups, health care professionals and providers, private sector stakeholders, faith-based organizations, and health care payers committed to the vision that all Americans with advanced illness, especially the sickest and most vulnerable, will receive comprehensive, high quality, person-and-family-centered care that is consistent with their goals and values and honors their dignity. For more information about C-TAC, visit TheCTAC.org

Defining Advanced Illness
C-TAC defines advanced illness care as care that occurs when one or more conditions becomes serious enough that general health and functioning begin to decline, treatment may no longer lead to preferred outcomes, and care oriented toward comfort may take precedence over attempts to cure – a process that extends to the end of life.

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SOURCE Coalition to Transform Advanced Care (C-TAC)

Related Links

http://www.TheCTAC.org