Core Synthesis | June 6-7, 2025
Includes Multiple Live Events. The next is on 06/06/2025 at 10:00 AM (EDT)
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Register
- Non-member - $1,195
- Member - $895
June 6-7, 2025 | Virtual Program
The Core Synthesis is part two of the two-part Core Curriculum on Medical Direction in Post-Acute and Long-Term Care (PALTC). This live interactive course is comprised of dynamic lectures, spirited role plays, case-based discussions, and small group breakouts. After completing the Synthesis course, participants will be able to integrate the tools, knowledge, and skills learned into their practice as a PALTC medical director. Emphasis is placed on implementing the use of QAPI tools, problem-solving concepts, and root cause analysis in monitoring and managing quality indicators and quality management data and incorporating systems theory, systems management, and leadership skills into the daily work of the PALTC medical director.
Learning Objectives
At the conclusion of this activity, learners will be able to:
- Develop practical skills needed to fulfill the role and responsibilities of the medical director.
- Identify the unique aspects of the PALTC environment that impact the medical director’s job.
- Describe the organizational responsibilities and dynamics of the medical director and the interdisciplinary team (IDT).
- Develop communication skills to deal with responsibilities for the IDT, residents, and their families.
- Explain the resident care responsibilities of the medical director, including emergency care, quality management, family systems, and ethical considerations.
- Enhance leadership skills and team building towards a stronger role for the medical director with the IDT.
- Develop human resource skills to deal with difficult situations and improve personal effectiveness.
- Improve the medical director’s ability to learn and practice in the evolving environment of health care delivery.
- Apply newly acquired knowledge to daily facility and practice activities.
All Times are Eastern Time Zone.
| Date/Time | Session | Virtual Location |
| Friday, June 6 | ||
| 10:00 - 10:15am | Course Introduction | General Session |
| 10:15 - 10:45am | Today’s Medical Director: Challenges and Opportunities | General Session |
| 10:45 - 11:15am | Quality: The Big Picture | General Session |
| 11:15 - 12:30pm | Breakout A | Introduction to QAPI | Small Group Breakouts |
| 12:30 - 12:45pm | Break | |
| 12:45 - 1:45pm | Breakout B | QAPI Took Box | Small Group Breakouts |
| 1:50 - 2:35pm | In-the-Trenches Panel Discussion: Early Session | General Session |
| 2:35 - 3:15pm | Meal Break | |
| 3:15 - 3:45pm | Team Dynamics and Communication | General Session |
| 3:45 - 4:45pm | Breakout C | Health Care Ethics, Resident Rights, Risk Management | Small Group Breakouts |
| 4:45 - 5:00pm | Break | |
| 5:00 - 6:00pm | Breakout D | NOT Just Another Ordinary Day at the SNF: Survey, F841/MSO | Small Group Breakouts |
| 6:05 - 6:50pm | In-the-Trenches Panel Discussion: Late Session | General Session |
| Saturday, June 7 | ||
| 10:00 - 10:30am | Protecting Rights, Preventing Deficiencies: The Role of the Medical Director | General Session |
| 10:30 - 11:00am | System Theory: Application in Medical Direction | General Session |
| 11:00 - 12:00pm | Breakout E | Medical Leadership and Medical Staff Oversight | Small Group Breakouts |
| 12:00 - 12:15am | Break | |
| 12:15 - 1:00pm | In-the-Trenches Panel Discussion | General Session |
| 1:00 - 1:30pm | Herding Cats: Medical Staff Coordination | General Session |
| 1:30 - 2:00pm | Leadership: A Tool for Effective Medical Directors | General Session |
| 2:00 - 2:15pm | Course Wrap-Up/Closing Remarks | General Session |
| 2:15pm | Adjourn |
*Program is subject to change.
Luz Ramos-Bonner, MD, MBA, CMD
Faculty Chair, Core Curriculum on Medical Direction
Luz Ramos-Bonner, MD, MBA, CMD, is part of Independence Family of Companies as a network medical director for Independence Blue Cross. In this role, Dr. Ramos is responsible for collaborating with primary care providers to drive improved performance in the Pennsylvania market, including primary care population health and value-based programs with health systems. As part of the clinical care transformation leadership, her cross-functional role includes initiatives that promote whole-person equitable health and advancing the quintiple aim. Dr. Ramos is a geriatrician and finished her Masters of Business Administration in Healthcare at the George Washington University.
Cynthia Kuttner, MD, CMD
Cynthia Kuttner, MD, CMD, is the medical director of the Community Living Center at the Wilmington VA Medical Center in Wilmington, Delaware. She is also an adjunct assistant professor of Geriatrics and Gerontology at the Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine. She is a graduate of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City and completed a primary care Internal Medicine residency at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx, New York. She is fellowship-trained in Geriatrics at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland. Prior to joining the Veterans Administration, she served as the medical director at several community nursing homes in Ohio.
Dheeraj Mahajan, MD, CMD
Dheeraj Mahajan, MD, CMD, is president and CEO of Chicago Internal Medicine Practice and Research and its associated group of companies and clinical associate professor of medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and board-certified in Internal Medicine and Geriatric Medicine. Additionally, Dr. Mahajan is a certified medical director, a certified physician advisor in utilization review and healthcare quality management, and is certified in infection control and epidemiology.
Jean Storm, DO, CMD
Jean Storm, DO, CMD, is a graduate of the Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine and is Board Certified in internal medicine. She has served as medical director of five long-term care facilities in Erie, PA, and throughout WV. She has also served as the program director for the internal medicine residency program at LECOM Health. She is currently a clinical support physician for Optum/United Healthcare and medical director for a quality improvement organization focused on improving care in long-term care facilities throughout PA and WV. Dr. Storm's interest is in developing policies and strategies that change the way providers view the care delivery process in LTC.
Meenakshi Patel, MD, MMM, CMD
Meenakshi Patel, MD, MMM, CMD, is a clinical associate professor at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, and Ohio Heritage University of Osteopathic Medicine in Athens, OH. She is also a practicing physician at Valley Medical Primary Care, a principal investigator at Valley Medical Research, and a medical director at several nursing homes. She teaches internal medicine and geriatrics to medical students, internal medicine and family medicine residents, and geriatric fellows. She has been very active with AMDA-The Society in several roles, including as a board member, member of multiple committees, and writing clinical practice guidelines on the management of diabetes in the long-term care setting. Dr. Patel has served as president of the Ohio Medical Directors Association.
John Heath MD, CMD
John Heath MD, CMD, completed his geriatric medicine fellowship at the University of Cincinnati in 1988 and has since been medical director for various PALTC facilities, including experience as a multi-facility corporate medical director. Currently medical director at the Hunterdon Care Center in Flemington, NJ, Dr. Heath joined the Hackensack Meridian Health System in 2021. Previously, Dr. Heath was a professor and geriatric medicine fellowship director at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and then established the Geriatric Services department for the Summit Medical Group. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American Geriatric Society, and a past board member of the New Jersey Geriatric Society.
Matthew Wayne, MD, CMD
Chief Medical Officer
Communicare
Matt Wayne, MD, CMD, is the former AMDA President and a long-standing member of the society. He has led traditional Accountable Care Organizations and is now the Chief Medical Officer of Communicare who is overseeing clinical operations for their iSNP, cSNP, practice group and now their new ACO REACH program.
- 11.5 CME
- 11.5 CMD Management
- 11.5 MOC
Credit Statements
Accreditation: Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medical Association is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
CME Designation: Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medical Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 11.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
CMD Credit Hours: This CME activity has been pre-approved for up to 11.5 management hour(s) toward certification or recertification as a Certified Medical Director (CMD) in post-acute and long-term care medicine. Each physician should claim only those hours of credit actually spent on the activity. The CMD Program is administered by PALTmed. For further information, contact PALTmed at 410-992-3115 or at certification@paltmed.org.
ABIM MOC: Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to 11.5 Medical Knowledge MOC points and patient safety MOC credit in the American Board of Internal Medicine’s (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. It is the CME activity provider’s responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABIM MOC credit.
Financial Disclosure Statement
The following faculty and/or planners disclosed a relevant financial relationship:
- Luz Ramos-Bonner, MD, MBA, CMD - Stock Shareholder: InnovAge; Fulltime/Parttime Employee: Independence Blue Cross
- Meenakshi Patel, MD, CMD – Speakers Bureau: Janssen, Teva and Otsuka/Lundbeck; Grant Research Support: Janssen, Eli Lilly, GSK, LMT, Acadia
- Todd Sobol, MD, CMD – Advisory Board: CareBand Inc.
- Richard Stefanacci, DO, MBA, CMD - Consultant: Active Protective (TangoBelt)
All relevant relationships have been mitigated by the Association. No one else in control of content disclosed any relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.
Course Pricing
| Early Bird Rate Deadline March 20, 2025 |
Regular Rate March 21 - May 15, 2025 |
Late Rate May 16 - June 6, 2025 |
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| Member | $795 | $895 | $995 |
| Non-Member | $1,095 | $1,195 | $1,295 |
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Registration Cancellation
Cancellations must be submitted via email to registration@paltmed.org. Cancellations must be received two weeks (14 days) prior to the start of the course for a full refund less a $100 administrative fee. Cancellations received less than two weeks (14 days) prior to the start of the course will result in the forfeiture of all registration fees. "No Shows" also forfeit all fees. Forfeited registration fees cannot be applied to subsequent PALTmed programs.
If it becomes necessary to cancel or postpone the start date of the course, PALTmed will not be responsible for travel or hotel costs incurred by the registrant. A full refund of registration fees will be made if the course is not rescheduled, or if the registrant is unable to attend the rescheduled course.
