Atlantic Health Expands Community Palliative Care Training in New Jersey

New Jersey-based Atlantic Health System recently launched a community-based palliative care collaborative in concert with Marquis Health Consulting Services. The initiative aims to improve access to palliative care for patients in skilled nursing settings, as well as expand education and staffing resources.

Marquis Health Consulting Services provides back-office operational, administrative and consulting services to skilled nursing facilities throughout the country. The company made a $100,000 grant in support of Atlantic’s Community Palliative Care Learning Collaborative (C-PCLC), a partnership made up of nearly 20 skilled nursing facilities statewide.

“Marquis Health Consulting Services is pleased to support this incredibly meaningful work being put forth by Atlantic Health System,” said Marquis Ltd. Founder and President Norman Rokeach. “Improved knowledge, education and collaboration within palliative care represents a great opportunity for all. Working together we can make a difference.”

Through Atlantic Visiting Nurse, the health system has provided home-based hospice care for more than 35 years in the Morristown and Basking Ridge areas of New Jersey. Morristown lies within Morris County, which saw the largest increase of aging adults across the state from 2000 to 2010, according to a report from the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Only Monmouth and Burlington counties saw substantial increases during that decade, with all three counties accounting for nearly half, or 44%, of increases in New Jersey’s senior population.

The health system in Jan. 2020 merged its home care and hospice operations with those of the Visiting Nurse Association of Somerset Hills, Inc. and its affiliates. The combined entity rebranded as Atlantic Visiting Nurse, which provides comprehensive home-based skilled nursing, hospice and palliative care services, as well as adult day care and other community-based health programs. Net assets from the deal totaled $757 in gains by the close of 2020.

Funding from Marquis will support all aspects of the community-based palliative care learning initiative including planning and development of a web-based proprietary portal, print and video content, webinars and other educational materials. The C-PCLC collaborative will also feature quarterly training events to expand palliative care expertise in the area.

“As a system, we are consistently looking to transform how we deliver care to ensure we are achieving the best outcomes for both our patients and their loved ones,” said Yvette Vieira, manager of palliative care and bioethics at Atlantic Health System. “Thanks to this support, we are able to provide a more seamless continuum of care across all services with our post-acute partners.”

The collaborative’s launch comes at a time when a widespread workforce shortage is hitting a range of health care disciplines hard, including hospice and palliative care. An April 2018 study found that the United States has 13.35 hospice and palliative care specialists for every 100,000 adults 65 and older. The research estimated that by 2040 the patient population will need 10,640 to 24,000 specialists; supply is expected to range between 8,100 and 19,000.

C-PCLC will also serve as a development model for expanded palliative care utilization. Demographic tailwinds are blowing strong in the Garden State, driving up demand for hospice and palliative care. Seniors 65 and older in New Jersey made up 16.6% of the state’s overall population in 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The state’s hospice utilization rate among Medicare decedents was at 45.6% in 2019, according to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, which fell just under the national average of 50.7% that year. 

Last year New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) signed into law a piece of legislation designed to raise public awareness of hospice and palliative care, designated S-3118. The law requires the state’s Commissioner of Health to establish a public awareness campaign to foster community-wide discussions and to promote early conversations about advance care planning and patient preferences to improve decision-making at the end-of-life.