VITAS Healthcare Sponsors, Exhibits, Presents at ACEP17

10/25/2017

Miami, FL, October 25, 2017—VITAS Healthcare wants to break the readmission cycle of patients with a serious progressive illness who discharge to home, experiences exacerbations, call 911, return to the emergency department and are rehospitalized.

The hospice services provider is taking that message to the ACEP17 Scientific Assembly of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), October 29–November 1 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Washington, DC.

VITAS will be present in the exhibit hall, booth #2629, and in the InnovatED Palliative Care and Geriatrics section, located in Exhibit Hall AB of the Convention Center. Attendees are invited to make an appointment with a VITAS medical director to discuss how VITAS solves challenges in your ED, particularly with high- and rising-risk patients.

Eric Shaban, MD, and James Wright, DO, two of VITAS’s regional medical directors, will present at ACEP.

“Hospice and the ED: The Case for Interoperability and Electronic Referrals”

• Sunday, October 29, at 11:15 a.m. and 11:21 a.m.
• Tuesday, October 31, at 11:45 a.m. and 11:51 a.m.

“How to Use Advanced Care Planning Codes in the ED”

• Sunday, October 29, 11:15–11:35 a.m.

Dr. Shaban will present at the Palliative Medicine Section Meeting, held off-site at the Marriott Marquis, 901 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Liberty Ballroom, Salon O, Meeting Level 4.

Hospice is not an emergency

VITAS takes the emergency out of caring for patients with serious progressive illness. By identifying a hospice-eligible patient in the emergency department, before admission, hospitals can reduce inappropriate use of their emergency department, ICU and other resources while helping patients control symptoms with home-based hospice care that eliminates calls to physician, ambulance or hospital.

“The emergency department is the first place patients with chronic illness and multi-morbidity turn for support,” says SVP and National Medical Director Joseph Shega, MD. “We have teamed up with ACEP to educate emergency physicians on appropriate hospice referrals to ensure patients can maximize the benefits of hospice and palliative services. We look forward to furthering our conversation with the emergency department clinicians and executives attending ACEP17.”

About ACEP

ACEP is the national medical specialty society representing emergency medicine. ACEP is committed to advancing emergency care through continuing education, research and public education. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, ACEP has 53 chapters representing each state, as well as Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. A Government Services Chapter represents emergency physicians employed by military branches and other government agencies.