John H. Fullerton, MD, CMD, MRO, CFP, FACP, AGSF, FAAHPM | Policy & Professional Services Committee Chair

According to CALTCM's current Bylaws: "The Policy & Professional Services Committee (PPSC) shall review and recommend policy issues and positions to the CALTCM's Board of Director's. They shall represent CALTCM at long-term care (LTC) industry, public policy, and government meetings, monitor legislative trends and actions, and act as a forum to set medical director and LTC practice guidelines." CALTCM's PPSC also collaborates whenever appropriate with AMDA's "parent" Public Policy Committee (PPC).

Dr. Bruce Ferrell and Edith O'Neil-Page, RN, MSN, will present a session on "Pain Management" that will help participants gain an understanding of optimal pain assessment in frail nursing home patients, the use of assessment tools, and the role of MDS 3.0. Further objectives of the presentations are to help participants choose optimal medication management options; review the risks, adverse effects, benefits and alternatives of various approaches; clarify appropriate monitoring plans and suggest ways of preparing patient-specific, pain-relieving, regimens.

Prominent geriatrician Dr. Cheryl Phillips, immediate past president of the American Geriatrics Society, past president of the American Medical Directors Association, and now senior vice president for advocacy at LeadingAge (previously known as the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging), will be gracing CALTCM annual meeting attendees with a keynote address on Saturday morning, May 12, 2012, on the notion of engaged leadership in long-term care. The whole Saturday program will focus in on risk management, to include discussion of the top ten deficiencies cited by the Department of Public Health and review of common themes in elder abuse lawsuits in the long-term care setting. Communication techniques will be reviewed, and assessment of decisional capacity using the U-CARE algorithm will be demonstrated by Drs. Rebecca Ferrini and Robert Gibson Ph.D., JD.

At the recent CALTCM Board of Directors meeting, our 2012-2014 slate of officers and committee chairs was approved. The term will run from our annual meeting in May 2012 until the annual meeting in 2014. The annual membership meeting at lunch on May 12, 2012 at the Omni in Los Angeles will make these positions official.

Our congratulations and thanks to these leaders who have graciously agreed to serve our organization: