Shaping a Culture of Advanced Illness Care Using Population Health and Employee Engagement (click for details)

Serving the South Shore of Massachusetts, NVNA & Hospice has recognized the social, moral, and pragmatic imperative to transform advanced illness care within its organization. Come hear Kate and Nicole tell you how they did it! Afterwards, you will have a better understanding of the complexity of our aging population and how a Palliative care approach best meets their needs. You’ll also learn they developed advanced illness strategies to ensure their clinicians experience greater confidence and support in the care they provide, as well as how to commit to employee engagement and advancing clinical practice at the same time to the benefit of both the workforce and patient care.

Kate Mercier is currently COO at NVNA and Hospice and has been a leader in home healthcare for over 15 years, including roles as a field clinician, Manager of Education and Performance Improvement, VP of Operational Excellence and Chief Clinical Officer. She is passionate about using her experience to teach/coach leaders and teams to transform their work experience and performance through the use of lean management principles, connectedness between key stakeholders in the patient care continuum, and a patient-centered, mission-driven philosophy.

Nicole DePace, MS, APRN, GNP-BC, ACHPN, is the Director of Advanced Illness Management Programs at NVNA and Hospice. She is board-certified as a geriatric and palliative care nurse practitioner and has practiced community-based palliative care for 13 years. Prior to her work as a palliative care nurse practitioner, she worked as a hospice nurse in New York City and Boston and was a bedside clinical nurse at Mt. Sinai Hospital’s Acute Care for the Elderly Unit.