Hospice Medical Director
Certification is Vital to
your Organization
T
By Joan K. Harrold,
MD MPH HMDC FAAHPM
14
he need for enhanced physician involvement in hospice care,
compliance, and leadership has been made abundantly clear by
a variety of recent events. Are you doing everything that you
can to demand and demonstrate the best from your physicians? If you
are not yet supporting certification for your hospice medical directors
and hospice physicians through the Hospice Medical Director
Certification Board® (HMDCB), then you can do more for the health and
well-being of your program!
Assessment of clinical knowledge and skills can be a formidable
challenge in hospice and palliative medicine. Historically, many
physicians have become hospice physicians after having their patients
served by a local hospice. The advent of hospice and palliative medicine
fellowship programs has brought more physicians to the field with
formal clinical training. However, there will always be seasoned
physicians who find that the experience of working with hospice leads
to the desire to work more in the field of hospice and palliative
NHPCO NewsLine | Winter 2015
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NHPCO NewsLine Winter 2015