1. Competency Based Education and Interdisciplinary Care Coordination
Implications for Health Care Professional Education
Patricia J. Volland
Director, Social Work Leadership Institute
May 24, 2011

2. Frame Work for Healthcare Professional Education
The context: creating a workforce with expertise and
competency in working with the older adult population.
Care Coordination is still coming into its own as a model of care
Experts in the field continue to evaluate the effectiveness of different models
Establishing the evidence-base for care coordination will help to determine expertise necessary in providing care coordination
As common elements are identified/refined professional training will be more clearly achievable

3. Competency-Based Training
2008 Institute of Medicine Report “Retooling for an Aging America” highlights need for competency based education:

4. Interdisciplinary Care
American Geriatrics Society (AGS) and IOM support interdisciplinary care
“Interdisciplinary care meets the complex needs of older adults with multiple, interacting comorbidities; improves health care processes and outcomes for geriatric syndromes; and benefits the healthcare system, as well as caregivers of older adults; and interdisciplinary training and education effectively prepares healthcare providers to care for older adults.” (AGS, 2006)
“The second principle underlying the vision of care in the future is that services need to be provided efficiently. Providers will need to be trained to work in interdisciplinary teams, and financing and delivery systems need to support this interdisciplinary approach.” (IOM, 2008)

5. The Road to Integrated Care
Geriatric Competencies in All Educational Settings
Interdisciplinary Collaboration among Providers, Patients and Caregivers
Integration of Medical and Long-Term Care Services

6. Establishing Competencies for Care Coordinators
Results of NYAM/SWLI research completed for New York
State Department of Health (2008)
Research and analysis of 50 state programs
Research and analysis of nationally recognized guidelines
New York State stake-holders perspective via multiple focus groups
Older adults
Care givers
Providers of care management

7. Essential Functions Identified for Care Coordination:
Domain 1: Develop and maintain relationships Domain 2: Train and educate patients Domain 3: Goal setting Domain 4: Care planning Domain 5: Coordination of services Domain 6: Insure cost effectiveness while maintaining quality Domain 7: On going quality improvements

8. A Competency-Based Approach
Competency based-education provides an effective framework for integrating geriatric knowledge into the curriculum
Competencies are clear and measurable practice behaviors with evidence based indicators to gauge performance
Competencies are often organized into relevant domains that can be tailored to specialist or generalist educational aims

9. Enhancing Competence in Geriatric Education
Development of discipline specific competencies
Doctors, nurses, social workers, pharmacists, and dentists
Nurse aides, home health aides, personal and home care aides
Direct-care workers
Development of core competencies across professions
Competencies in support of informal caregivers
Develop competencies related to interdisciplinary practice and care coordination

10. Initiatives for Competency Development
Across professions, multiple initiatives have been undertaken to develop geriatric competencies and promote interdisciplinary care
Foundations have partnered with professional organizations and educators to integrate competencies into educational programs
Established competencies provide foundation for expansion within professions and to other disciplines
The following slides describe the Social Work initiative representative of this trend

11. Case Study: Social Work Competencies
Geriatric Social Work Initiative to create aging competencies for social work (collaborative effort among multiple organizations)
Integration of competencies in curriculum with specific educational outcomes for required coursework
Tailored to both undergraduate and graduate level through collaborative approach
The Social Work Leadership Institute (SWLI) has focused on establishing competencies at the MSW level for specialists in aging in the Hartford Partnership Program in Aging (HPPAE)*
* Funding provided by The John A. Hartford Foundation

12. HPPAE Competency Development
Phase I: The identification of competencies
Geriatric social work competency development was initiated in 1998 with the first Hartford-funded curriculum development project, CSWE SAGE-SW
Phase 2: Essential Skills for Measurement: The Geriatric Social Work Competency Scale
A concise, measurable, and consensus-based list of skills for geriatric social work was tested and completed by California HPPAE sites and implemented by New York Academy of Medicine’s PPP (now the HPPAE)
Phase 3: Implementation Geriatric Competencies in the HPPAE
School adoption of HPPAE geriatric social work competencies
Identification of individual student learning goals
Integration of class and field work learning
Assessment of student skill level and progress (pre and post)
Phase 4: Endorsed by the Gero-Ed Center/Council on Social Work Education Phase

13. HPPAE Focus on Competencies
HPPAE Social Work with Aging Skill Competency Scale II contains 40 items with both micro and macro content organized into 4 domains:
Values, Ethics, and Theoretical Perspectives
Assessment
Intervention
Aging Services, Programs, and Practices
HPPAE convened workgroup to develop leadership competencies
Added fifth domain to GSW Competency Scale II: Leadership Practice in the Field of Aging

14. HPPAE Outcomes
Regular evaluations demonstrate significant increase in aging knowledge from pre- to post-test, with students reporting an increase in skill level in the areas of values, assessment, intervention, and aging services
Ninety-one percent of students agreed that their goals in learning to work with older adults were achieved through their field experiences
Eighty percent of graduates of HPPAE’s report working in aging related agencies 18 months post graduation

15. Support for Interdisciplinary Competencies
Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) recommends competencies that include shared knowledge and decision making
2008 IOM report notes that interdisciplinary training requires competencies founded in evidence based practice
American Geriatric Society 2006 position statement on the importance of interdisciplinary care
If not directly stated, many competencies have implicit focus on interdisciplinary approach and care coordination, e.g. comprehensive assessment, development of care plan, etc.

16. AGS Geriatrics Competencies Work Group
Group of over 20 healthcare professional organizations
Competency development representing Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Nutrition, Occupational Therapy, Psychology, Pharmacy, Physical Therapy, Physician Assistants, and Social Work
Four of the participating disciplines have existing competencies (medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and social work).
Identify a shared set of competencies across professions and develop these for healthcare professionals at the entry level of training

17. The Partnership for Healthy Aging (PHA)
AGS work has been formalized in the PHA, which released a report “Multidisciplinary Competencies in the Care of Older Adults at the Completion of the Entry-level Health Professional Degree”
Iterative process to identify 6 competency domains relevant to 10 different professions
Endorsed by 28 national organizations
Focus on core competencies across professions

18. PHA: Care Coordination and Interdisciplinary Team Care
Domain #3: Care Planning and Coordination Across the Care Spectrum (Including End-of-Life Care)
Develop treatment plans based on best evidence and on person-centered and -directed care goals.
Evaluate clinical situations where standard treatment recommendations, based on best evidence, should be modified with regard to older adults’ preferences and treatment/care goals, life expectancy, co-morbid conditions, and/or functional status.
Develop advanced care plans based on older adults’ preferences and treatment/care goals, and their physical, psychological, social, and spiritual needs.
Recognize the need for continuity of treatment and communication across the spectrum of services and during transitions between care settings, utilizing information technology where appropriate and available.
Domain #4:  Interdisciplinary and Team Care
Distinguish among, refer to, and/or consult with any of the multiple healthcare professionals who work with older adults, to achieve positive outcomes. 
Communicate and collaborate with older adults, their caregivers, healthcare professionals, and direct-care workers to incorporate discipline-specific information into overall team care planning and implementation.

19. In conclusion: A working definition of care coordination
“Care coordination” is a person-centered, assessment-based, interdisciplinary approach to integrating health care and social support services in a cost-effective manner in which an individual’s needs and preferences are assessed, a comprehensive care plan is developed, and services are managed and monitored by an evidence-based process which typically involves a designated lead care coordinator.
Developed and refined by the National Care Coordination Coalition.

20. In conclusion: Interdisciplinary Care Coordination
Care coordination works to overcome fragmentation and inefficiency
Ensures collaboration among providers
Helps consumers and caregivers gain access to needed services
Provides services to older adults in a home and community based setting
Effective care coordination models increasingly take an interdisciplinary approach
Integrate medical and social services
Are consumer directed
Include all caregivers

21. Incorporating Lessons Learned
As models of care continue to be developed and implemented, interdisciplinary training will be essential to care coordination
Programs pioneered by Veterans Administration, e.g. Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Centers (GRECCs) support continued development of interdisciplinary care
Interdisciplinary training programs such as those supported by JAHF, the Geriatric Interdisciplinary Team Training Program (GITT),provide important lessons for strengthening interdisciplinary professional education

22. Future Opportunities
Passage of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act offers opportunities to improve geriatric care through educational programs, interdisciplinary teams. and deployment of evidence based models of care
Sampling of provisions focused on care coordination, long-term care and the workforce:
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI)
The Federal Coordinated Health Care Office (Duals Office)
Workforce Provisions for Geriatric Education and Training (Title V, Subtitle D, Sec. 5305); Training Opportunities for Direct Care Workers ((Title V, Subtitle D, Sec. 5302); and a National Health Care Workforce Commision Title V, Subtitle B, Sec 5101)
Current educational programs and workforce initiatives provide foundation on which to build, though much work remains ahead!