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Hospice Super Forum (2025)
AAHPM and HMDCB are pleased to present the second annual Hospice Super Forum. This half-day virtual educational event will address trending topics in hospice medicine, including methadone therapy in hospice care, relatedness of diagnosis, and General Inpatient (GIP) Care.
This continuing medical education activity is designed to improve a hospice practitioner’s ability to apply key regulatory and clinical principles to optimize patient care. Despite awareness of methadone’s potential benefits for complex pain management, many hospice practitioners are not yet able to adequately initiate, titrate, and monitor its use in medically complex patients. This gap contributes to underutilization and prescribing variability. In addition, interdisciplinary teams face persistent challenges in determining and documenting the relatedness of diagnoses, an essential skill that affects care planning, compliance, and reimbursement. Similarly, practitioners demonstrate inconsistent application of General Inpatient (GIP) eligibility criteria and transitions, leading to variability in care delivery and potential compliance risk.
Join Drs. Mary Lynn McPherson, Balakrishnan Natarajan, and Ruth Thomson as they guide learners through these important topics that all practitioners caring for hospice patients should be aware of. Each session will include a Q&A time with presenters and an opportunity to connect with peers.
Pricing
Register before October 27, and you will have the option for pizza to be delivered right to your door! This is not applicable to international registrants***.
- AAHPM Members: $300*
- Nonmembers: $425
- Current HPM Fellows: can enjoy a 20% discount off member and nonmember rates.
- HMDCB Certificants: if you are not a member of the Academy but are HMDCB certified, you can receive the member rate with a discount code.
To receive either discount codes, please contact Member Services at 847.375.6740 or email [email protected].
This forum is a live event only. It is anticipated that the recording of this forum will be available for purchase at a future date pending the recording quality supports optimal on-demand learning. In the event of an on-demand learning course, paid attendees will receive complimentary access to the enduring materials.
Target Audience
Hospice physicians, medical directors, advanced practice providers (NPs, PAs), fellows, nurses, and interdisciplinary team members (e.g., social workers, chaplains, program leaders) across academic and community-based settings.
Learning Outcomes
This activity aims to advance clinical competence by enabling learners to:
- Apply evidence-based strategies for initiating and managing methadone therapy in hospice patients with complex pain and comorbid conditions.
- Demonstrate accurate documentation and interdisciplinary alignment when determining diagnosis relatedness for hospice eligibility and compliance.
- Utilize appropriate criteria to assess, initiate, and transition patients in and out of GIP level of care to ensure regulatory compliance and clinical appropriateness.
Disclosures
AAHPM endorses the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) Standards for disclosure and commercial support and endeavors to ensure balance, independence, objectivity, and scientific rigor for all accredited products or programs. All who are in a position to control or influence the content of an educational activity must disclose any relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.*Disclosure documents were reviewed for potential conflicts of interest and, if identified, were resolved prior to confirmation of participation. Only those who had no conflict of interest or who agreed to an identified resolution process prior to their participation were involved in this activity.
All editors, faculty and staff have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
*An ineligible company is defined as any entity producing, marketing, reselling, or distributing healthcare goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.
Faculty
Mary Lynn McPherson, PharmD PhD BCPS FAAHPM
Mary Lynn McPherson, Pharm.D. PhD BCPS FAAHPM is Professor and Executive Director of Graduate Studies in Palliative Care (Doctor of Philosophy, Master of Science, and Graduate Certificates) at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. In addition to a PharmD degree, Dr. McPherson has master’s degrees in Instructional Systems Development, and Distance Education and e-Learning, as well as a PhD in Health Professions Education. McPherson has maintained a practice in both hospice (local and national) her entire career. Dr. McPherson is particularly interested in opioid conversion calculations, and the safe and effective use of medications in patients with a life-limiting illness, ranging from drug selection, deprescribing, and risk mitigation. Dr. McPherson has won numerous awards for teaching, and her innovative practice in end of life care. She has published numerous articles, chapters, and five books including the best-selling “Demystifying Opioid Conversion Calculations: A Guide for Effective Dosing.”
Balakrishnan Natarajan, MD HMDC
Balu Natarajan, M.D. is a graduate of Northwestern University Medical School is Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Accent Care. Prior to becoming a leader at AccentCare, he served as Chief Medical Officer at Seasons Hospice and Palliative Care. Board-certified in internal medicine, hospice and palliative care, and sports medicine, Dr. Natarajan has authored book chapters and articles in peer-reviewed journals. He has also lectured across the United States and around the world, including conferences hosted by the American College of Physicians, American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, and American College of Sports Medicine. He won the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee in 1985.
Dr. Natarajan is certified by The American Board of Internal Medicine in Hospice and Palliative Medicine and by the Hospice Medical Director Certification Board HMDCB. He has served as NHPCO Board Member, former Member and Vice Chair of Public Policy Committee, and Chair of Palliative Care Council. Dr. Natarajan is a faculty member at Northwestern University Medical School and Midwestern University Medical School. Additionally, he is a faculty member for the Online Master of Science and Graduate Certificate in Palliative Care at the University of Maryland and has served as Mentor for the Women in Leadership Program at George Washington University and Florida International University. Dr. Natarajan served as the CEO of the nonprofit NorthSouth Foundation, an educational charity, since 2020 and is currently Vice Chair of the Board.
Ruth Thomson, DO MBA HMDC
Privileged to practice Hospice and Palliative Medicine full-time since 2001, Dr. Thomson has held clinical, Medical Director and Chief Medical Officer (CMO) roles in Hospice and Academic Palliative Care programs and has provided clinical care and leadership in inpatient settings throughout that period. Currently serving as CMO for Four Seasons in Flat Rock, North Carolina, she oversees their expansive Hospice and Palliative Care programs, including care at Elizabeth House, their Hospice inpatient facility. Dr. Thomson is triple Board certified, holding Internal Medicine, Hospice and Palliative Medicine, and Hospice Medical Direction Certification. She is a Fellow of AAHPM, has served on their Board of Directors and various Committees and Task Forces, and was the recipient of the 2021 Josefina B. Magno Distinguished Hospice Physician Award. She has delivered many state and national Hospice and Palliative Care presentations, including GIP and the OIG, Can They Live Together in Perfect Harmony at the AAHPM Annual Assembly and the NHPCO Interdisciplinary Conference in 2019, Navigating the Complexities of Inpatient Hospice Care at the Delta Care Innovation in Hospice and Serious Illness conference in 2022, and The Medicare Hospice Benefit at the MD Anderson Updates in Hospice and Palliative Care and Intensive Physician Board Review course annually since 2023. Dr. Thomson’s expertise and passions include hospice regulations, team building, and diversity, equity and inclusion.
Continuing Medical Education (CME)
The American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) designates this live activity for a maximum of 3.75 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™.
Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Successful completion includes attesting to meaningful activity participation and completion/submission of activity evaluation within the time frame designated.
Evaluation period closes December 31, 2025 at 11:59pm CT for claiming CME credit.
Maintenance of Certification (MOC) Recognition Statement
Through the American Board of Medical Specialties (“ABMS”) ongoing commitment to increase access to practice relevant Continuing Certification Activities through the ABMS Continuing Certification Directory, Hospice Super Forum (apply toward general CME requirement) for the following ABMS Member Boards:
- Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to 3.75 MOC points in the American Board of Internal Medicine’s (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program.
- Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the learner to earn credit toward the CME of the American Board of Surgery’s Continuous Certification program.
It is the CME activity provider's responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABIM or ABP MOC credit. By submitting your evaluation, you grant AAHPM permission to submit completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting respective BOARD MOC program credit or points as applicable. De-identified aggregated data from the evaluation may be used for research and/or publication and will conform to generally accepted standards of experimental design, data collection and analysis where indicated.
Evaluation period closes December 31, 2025 at 11:59pm CT for claiming MOC credit.
Available Credit
- 3.75 ABIM MOC
- 3.75 CME (physician only)
- 3.75 Participation