What would you do if you were diagnosed with a life-limiting disease? Ms. Berman shares her experiences from the front row of terminal illness and talk about the role of the patient in establishing the goals of care, the importance of palliation, and recommendations for healthcare policy. This is an opportunity to learn how an activated patient, in partnership with the healthcare team, can play a vital role in achieving the triple aim of better health, better care, and lower costs.

Ms. Berman is a senior program officer with The John A. Hartford Foundation. She heads the Foundation’s Integrating and Improving Services grants, focusing on the development and dissemination of innovative, cost-effective models of care that improve health outcomes for older adults. Ms. Berman is the program officer responsible for a number of efforts to improve transitions of care as well as the Foundation’s work to improve home healthcare delivery and efforts to redesign primary care to better meet the needs of those with multiple chronic diseases. She also directs a number of collaborations with Federal partners. Ms. Berman is responsible for the development of the National League for Nursing’s geriatric-focused faculty development effort, Advancing Care Excellence for Seniors. This program provides educational strategies, curricular resources, and case studies used in simulation that enhance the geriatric competence of faculty and students. Ms. Berman developed resources and programs to improve the geriatric expertise of nursing educators and clinicians, and conducted a national survey on gerontological nursing content in baccalaureate programs. Her findings were cited in the Institute of Medicine’s report, Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Health Care Workforce. Ms. Berman has served as a Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations coordinator and an accreditation consultant in performance improvement for a variety of healthcare institutions. She also has served on the New York State Department of Health’s Emergency Preparedness Task Force and on the professional advisory boards of healthcare institutions in New York City. Ms. Berman is an appointed member of the Aging Task Force for Healthy People 2020 and the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Patient Safety Clinical Pharmacy Services Leadership Coordinating Council. She is a member of AcademyHealth; the Gerontological Society of America; and the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau.