April 23,2021 

The Path Forward for Nursing Home Residents: Lessons Learned from the Pandemic 

 Virtual Meeting  CEU 1.0

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM CT  

A confirmation is sent immediately upon registration with the virtual link for the day of the event, if you do not receive it, please contact us at iomcstaff@iomc.org. 

Complimentary - Open to all  

Download Flyer here

Nursing home residents in Illinois represent less than 1% of the population, yet they had 50% of all COVID-19 deaths pre-vaccine distribution.  This session will explore what nursing home residents were more adversely affected and initiatives to improve care and prevent harm in the short and long term.  In addition to COVID-19, the emotional, mental, and isolation effects both during the pandemic and post-pandemic will be discussed at this virtual session. Leading experts in senior care will discuss the lessons learned and provide guidance on the opportunities going forward for this important demographic.  

Post-Election — By attending this session, you will be able to:

• Identify the physical and mental impact of COVID-19 on nursing home residents pre-vaccine and post-vaccine
• Recognize the key factors that lead to the COVID-19 crisis  in nursing homes
• Compare and contrast the impact of COVID-19 on Black and Latinx nursing home residents and staff
• Explain short and long term models to improve quality of life and health outcomes for seniors that need nursing home care

Moderator

• Patricia Merryweather-Arges, MA, Executive Director, Project Patient Care, Fellow and Board Director, the Institute of Medicine of Chicago 

Panel 

• R. Tamara Konetzka, PhD, University  of Chicago, Louis Block Professor of Public Health Sciences and the College, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Medicine, Section of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine
• Susan Ryan, RN, MA, Senior Director of The Green House Project
• Michael Wasserman, MD,  Geriatrician and Editor-in-Chief of Springer’s upcoming textbook, Geriatric Medicine: A Person Centered Evidence Based Approach

Suggested reading: 

Gorges RJ, Konetzka RT. Factors Associated With Racial Differences in Deaths Among Nursing Home Residents With COVID-19 Infection in the US. 

The Green House Project partners with senior living providers to create homes for elders that demonstrate more powerful, meaningful, and satisfying lives, work, and relationships. They implement true culture change as well as dementia education and training to create person-directed relationship-rich living environments. 

Bios 

Patricia Merryweather-Arges, MA Executive Director, Project Patient Care, and Fellow and Board  Director,  Institute of Medicine of Chicago.  Merryweather-Arges serves as Executive Director of Project Patient Care (PPC) where she is a co-leader of all PPC initiatives, including its work in federal healthcare transformation, advocating authentic patient and family engagement across all healthcare settings, and PPC organizational development activities. Prior to joining PPC, Pat served as the Executive Director of the Illinois, Iowa, and Colorado Medicare Quality Improvement Organization programs from 2011 to November, 2016. She implemented measurable quality care improvement initiatives of the federal government and developed collaborative learning and action networks aimed at improving individual and resident patient care; integrated care delivery systems; and prevention of disease and disease advancement. She partnered with hospitals, nursing homes, home health, physician practices, and patients and families along with their trade associations, professional organizations, and government and non-governmental organizations. 

As the Senior Vice President with the Illinois Hospital Association for 26 years, Merryweather  was the healthcare information and health care quality and policy liaison with local, state, and national public and private organizations. Pat also had the responsibility for development and all management aspects of COMPdata (on-line comparative information network) and developed and implemented the Quality Care Institute (QCI) that was built on existing hospital and IHA quality and safety initiatives and designed to promote innovative programs for measurably improving the quality of patient care.

Merryweather currently serves on several boards and committees, including National Association for Health Data Organization Board; Collaboraction Board and Executive Committee; St. Bernard Hospital Board and Chair of Quality and Safety Committee; Cook County Health Quality and Safety Committee of the Board; Illinois Public Health Institute Board; Naperville Rotary Charities Board; Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Rotary Action Board; Illinois DPH HAI/AR Advisory Committee; Jesse Brown VA Community Partnership Committee; Chicago American Red Cross Heroes Committee; and Chicago Build the Peace Committee.  

Michael Wasserman, MD, is a geriatrician who has devoted his career to serving the needs of older adults. He is Editor-in-Chief of Springer’s upcoming textbook, Geriatric Medicine: A Person Centered Evidence Based Approach. He previously served as Chief Executive Officer for Rockport Healthcare Services, overseeing the largest nursing home chain in California. Prior to that, he was the Executive Director, Care Continuum, for Health Services Advisory Group, the Quality Improvement Organization for California. In 2001, he co-founded Senior Care of Colorado, which became the largest privately owned primary care geriatrics practice in the country, before selling it in 2010. Wasserman is a graduate of the University of Texas, Medical Branch. He completed an Internal Medicine residency at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and a Geriatric Medicine Fellowship at UCLA. He spent five years with Kaiser-Permanente in Southern California where he founded Kaiser's first outpatient Geriatric Consult Clinic. Wasserman was the lead delegate from the State of Colorado to the 2005 White House Conference on Aging. He also co-chaired the Colorado Alzheimer’s Coordinating Council. Wasserman has actively supported Wish of a Lifetime From AARP since its inception and serves as Vice-Chair of its Board. He is the Immediate Past President of the California Association of Long Term Care Medicine.

R. Tamara Konetzka, PhD, University of Chicago, is the Louis Block Professor of Public Health Sciences and the College, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Medicine, Section of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine. She is an internationally recognized expert in the health economics of long-term and post-acute care. Her research focuses on the incentives created by health care policy, including payment policy, and their effects on quality of care. She has been the PI on numerous major federal research grants, leading to significant advances in knowledge of the drivers of nursing home quality, how public reporting of quality changes the behavior of providers and consumers, and the unintended consequences of home-based long-term and post-acute care. In May 2020, she testified before the U.S. Senate on COVID-19 and nursing homes. Konetzka serves on several editorial boards and is Editor in Chief of Medical Care Research and Review. 

Susan Ryan, RN, MA is the Senior Director of The Green House Project, is a leader in the strategic development of  innovative thinking and cultural paradigm shifts. With international speaking and project management  experience, she has served as an integral part of The Green House Project for over 12 years and has led  the team through key transitions. In the quest for quality long-term care environments that are  accessible and affordable to all, Ryan has sought to leverage lessons learned from research conducted  on the Green House model to develop protocols and metrics to ensure growth and sustainability. 

CEU 1.0

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Questions? Contact us at iomcstaff@iomc.org or call us at 312.709.2685.

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