A Caring Coalition for California
By: Craig Dresang, CEO, YoloCares
I n his closing remarks at a 2016 stakeholder meeting, hosted by the National Academy of Medicine, Dr. Victor Dzau (academy president) said, “We need a coalition, a movement, a critical mass. We need to work together so that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. We need to come together to develop resources for policy and communication. We need to improve our communication — to patients and families, healthcare providers, government, and the public.”
His words perfectly captured the founding spirit of the Coalition for Compassionate Care of California.
Few organizations channel the kind of clout and collaborative spirit that defines California’s tight-knit Coalition. The group is a small but mighty powerhouse that works closely with healthcare systems and providers, patient advocacy groups, professional associations and policy — and lawmakers to promote high-quality care for seriously ill Californians.
Even before I was asked to join CCCC’s board of directors as treasurer, I had intimate firsthand knowledge of the group’s influence and support of organizations like YoloCares. Ten years ago, it was the Coalition, along with Partnership HealthPlan, that provided seed funding and guidance for YoloCares as it ventured out to create a community-based palliative care program.
The Coalition’s support helped position the program to become the first of its kind in northern California to achieve certification from the Joint Commission … known as the Gold Standard of accreditation and certification.
Months later, the coalition further supported the agency’s efforts around advance care planning. That collaboration enabled YoloCares to facilitate ACP conversations with more than 3,000 people across 30 communities throughout the Sacramento region.
The goal was to create better informed consumers of healthcare and to inspire them to complete their own advance care planning documents.
Creating consequential change within and among enormous systems of healthcare requires vision, commitment, resources and extensive partnerships. No individual or organization can achieve meaningful change alone.
Advancing better outcomes requires a system-wide commitment to change. It also demands a process for continuous improvement. The ability to foster productive conversations and debate, plant seeds of possibility, and then foster wide ranging support has always been the Coalition’s strong suit.
Since 1998, CCCC has nurtured systems change by:
* Educating policymakers and advocating for policy changes.
* Developing, testing, supporting, and standardizing more effective models for healthcare delivery and payment.
* Educating professionals and empowering them through better skills.
* Educating and engaging all Californians about informed choice, documenting wishes, advocating for the care they need, no more and no less.
* Participating at the national level to promote improved care for the seriously ill at all levels.
One of the Coalition’s most significant achievements is tied to its sponsorship for, and support of, the State’s Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment, otherwise known as POLST. CCCC also co-sponsored legislation to update the hospice licensing statute to allow hospice agencies to provide palliative care services to patients who are not on hospice. Another significant accomplishment has been the development of Decision Aids for healthcare providers.
Decision Aids are an educational series that explains the complex topics of life-sustaining treatments, using consumer-friendly language with evidence-based information. The Aids were developed with the help and guidance of healthcare professionals and reflect the latest research on these interventions. To support diverse patient communities, CCCC has expanded its patient-centered Decision Aids to eight languages . . . now available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Punjabi, Russian, Tagalog, Vietnamese and Korean.
This year, the Coalition will mark its 27th year with its annual State-wide educational summit, titled Hard Problems & New Solutions, in Costa Mesa, CA. YoloCares is a major sponsor of the summit. Listed below is an itinerary and speaker lineup. For more information or to register, visit CCCC’s website at www.coalitionccc.org.
Leave a Reply