Serious Illness Conversations

Project Overview

Aims: By Nov 30, 2025,

  • Attain a 2% increase in Provider Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment ( POLST ) completion 
  • Increase usage of the Serious Illness Conversation Guide (SICG) SmartForm by 2% 
  • Increase Medicare Billing for Advance Care Planning by 2%
     

Project Description

This Continuing Certification (MOC) improvement project provides MOC credit to clinicians for efforts to improve confidence in holding Serious Illness Conversations and to increase completion of appropriate documentation resulting in:

  • Increased advance directives in the EMR 
  • Increased  number of  clinicians having SIC conversations with patients
  • Early hospices admissions 
  • Early palliative care consultation 
  • Improved clinical outcomes
     

Meaningful Participation Requirements

  • Identify and/or acknowledge a gap(s) in outcomes or in care delivery.
  • Participate and/or review required education.
  • Review personal data and patient lists as available.
  • Implement improvement strategies for a minimum of 3 months assessing barriers and identifying solutions.
  • Discuss project status with colleagues/leadership as able.
     

Participation Attestation

To receive Continuing Certification (MOC) credit, clinicians must demonstrate meaningful participation in the improvement project including taking an active role in the project requirements as designated by the project leader.

  • Reflect on outcomes to determine whether strategies resulted in improvement and if not, barriers encountered. 
  • Attest to meeting the above requirements.
     

Credit  

This improvement project meets the following medical boards’ physician MOC Part IV requirements and NCCPA’s CME credit:

  • Family Medicine (ABFM): Performance Improvement Activity (20 Points)
  • Internal Medicine (ABIM): Practice Assessment (30 Points)
  • Emergency Medicine (ABEM): One Practice Improvement (PI) Activity
  • NCCPA: 30 PI - CME Credits

Target Audience

Primary Care clinicians

Learning Objectives

By the end of the project clinicians will:

  • Define the differences between a POLST form and Health Care Directive   
  • Analyze which patients would benefit from a serious illness conversation
  • Adopt asking What Matters Most and documenting using the WMM note type
  • Adopt using the Serious Illness Conversation Guide in personal practice and document in the SICG SmartForm
Course summary
Course opens: 
04/01/2025
Course expires: 
12/31/2025
Rating: 
0

Planning Team

Terry Maag, MD
Division Medical Director
HealthPartners Home and Community Services

Vic Sandler, MD
Geriatrician, Hospice and Palliative Medicine Specialist
HealthPartners Hospice

Michelle Cotter
Program Manager, Advance Care Planning
HealthPartners

Ann Tarnowski
Program Manager, Continuing Certification (MOC)
Park Nicollet

Please login or register to take this course.


This project is intended for our internal audience only. A login using the HealthPartners Login with your network credentials is required to register.

NOTE: Separate from submitting this registration in CMEcentral, you are required to complete one of the options from this grid at the start of the project. Some options require additional registration on an external site. You will be reminded of this again on the next page.

Do not close out of CMEcentral until you have registered for one of the three required education options and have submitted a response to the Starting Confidence question. 
 

If you are already registered for this project, click Start to continue.

Tips for Logging in to CMEcentral

Select HealthPartners Login and enter your employee network ID and network password. Even if this is your first time using CMEcentral, simply log in and complete your profile. Do not create a new account!

Internal Audience applies to all HealthPartners Employees and Contract Staff, including HealthPartners, Park Nicollet, TRIA, Westfields Hospital, HPCMC, Hudson Hospital, PNBConline.Com, Lakeview Hospital and Clinics, Amery Medical, HutchHealth