Development and Certification of Decision Aids: Promoting Shared Decision-Making for Patients with Serious Illness

Join us at Harvard Law School on April 18 for "The Development and Certification of Decision Aids: Promoting Shared Decision-Making for Patients with Serious Illness." Registration is free.  

Decision aids can be highly-effective tools to promote shared decision making and support patients in becoming engaged participants in their healthcare.  Join us for the first-ever convening with leaders behind a Washington experiment in certifying decision aids, as state officials, health systems, and on-the-ground implementation experts share lessons learned and discuss policy recommendations for national or statewide approaches to decision aid certification.

Person-centered care presents a unique opportunity to achieve the Quadruple Aim, especially during serious illness when people are the most vulnerable. Building on the work of NQF and others, it is now clear that healthcare purchasers (states, plans, care providers) committed to person-centered care should also be committed to shared decision-making.

A number of policy initiatives have sought to increase the use of decision aids as an effective way to further shared decision making and person-centered care. Washington is the first - and so far only - state to recognize and act on this opportunity by establishing a process to certify decision aids across the health continuum, including during serious illness when people are the most vulnerable. The program will examine the Washington experience and also explore policy barriers for replication of the Washington model at the state and national levels.

8:00 - 8:30 am
Registration

8:30 - 8:35 am
Welcome Remarks

• Mark Sterling, Senior Fellow in Advanced Care and Health Policy, the Petrie-Flom Center and senior strategic advisor, the Coalition to Transform Advanced Care (C-TAC)
• Carmel Shachar, Executive Director, the Petrie-Flom Center and Lecturer on Law, Harvard Law School

8:35 - 9:35 am
Theory and Knowledge Regarding Decision Aids
Speakers will present an overview of the state of the science.

• Glyn Elwyn, MD, PhD, Professor and Senior Scientist, The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice
• Dominick Frosch, PhD, Palo Alto Medical Foundation Research Institute
• Dawn Stacey, MScH, PhD, University of Ottawa

9:35 - 10:35 am
The Washington State Experience
Panelists will discuss the use of legislation and policy to promote shared decision-making and utilization of decision aids.

• Karen Merrikin, JD, Project Consultant, Washington State Health Care Authority
• Ben Moulton, JD, MPH, Adjunct Lecturer, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and Boston University School of Law 
• Thaddeus Mason Pope, JD, PhD, Director, Health Law Institute and Professor of Law, Mitchell Hamline School of Law

10:35 - 10:45 am
Break

10:45 - 11:45 am
The Creation of a Decision Aid Certification Process
Representatives from the Washington State Health Care Authority Patient Decision Aid Certification committee will discuss the development of a statewide decision aid certification program, experiences, challenges, and barriers.

• Laura Pennington, Practice Transformation Manager, Washington State Health Care Authority

11:45am - 12:30 pm
Shared Decision-Making Implementation: What Do We Know?
Panelists will address lessons learned from the field, including how one health system successfully implemented shared decision-making, changing the culture of their practice; the challenges they encountered along the way; and where they are today.

• Matt Handley, MD, Senior Medical Director for Quality and Safety, Kaiser Permanente of Washington
• Anthony L. Back, MD, Professor of Medicine, University of Washington; Co-Director, Cambia Palliative Care Center of Excellence; and Co-Founder, VitalTalk

12:30 - 1:30 pm
Lunch and Networking

1:30 - 2:15 pm
How Decision Aids Can Promote Person-Centered Care for Serious Illness
Panelists will introduce the Respecting Choices approach to the creation and utilization of encounter decision aids to promote shared decision-making.

• Linda Briggs, MSN, MA, RN, Director of Program Development & Research, Respecting Choices, a division of C-TAC Innovations
• Sandy Schellinger, MSN, RN, NP-C, Senior Faculty and Consultant, Respecting Choices, a division of C-TAC Innovations

2:15 - 3:30 pm
Next Steps: Moving from Science and Policy to Practice
A Call to Action: Building on the Washington state experience, this panel discussion and interactive session explores how key partners can work together to allow decision aids to accelerate the move of shared decision-making into the mainstream of clinical practice, and recommends policies that can overcome barriers to replication in other states and nationally.

• Thaddeus Mason Pope, JD, PhD, Director, Health Law Institute and Professor of Law, Mitchell Hamline School of Law
• Glyn Elwyn, MD, PhD, Professor and Senior Scientist, The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice
• Christopher F. Koller, President, Milbank Memorial Fund
• Laura Pennington, Practice Transformation Manager, Washington State Health Care Authority
• Facilitator: Karen Merrikin, JD, Project Consultant, Washington State Health Care Authority

3:30 - 4:30 pm
Networking Reception