FELLOWSHIP
Community Based-Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship
There is a great need for Hospice and Palliative Medicine (HPM) to meet the needs of patients and families living with serious and life-limiting illness.
Currently options for HPM Fellowships are limited and not able to train the number of new physicians needed. In addition, many physicians in mid-career find that they would like to train and work in HPM but returning to a traditional HPM Fellowship is not feasible.
A Report on the Innovative University of Colorado Community Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship, published in the Journal of Palliative Medicine, shows CHPM's promise in addressing the impending workforce shortage.
The Community Hospice and Palliative Medicine (CHPM) Fellowship is part of the response to the need to create new pathways for mid-career providers.
Other teams are focusing on part-time, shared or competency-based training within existing HPM Fellowships which would still require fellows to spend considerable time at the academic medical center.
The CHPM Fellowship is designed to meet the needs of mid-career providers to obtain training will continuing to live and work in their community supported through on-line and distance learning technology with supervision provided by the HPM faculty here at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.
This program has been approved by the Accreditation Counsel for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) and other supporting Boards as a demonstration project. Fellows who successfully complete the CHPM Fellowship will be eligible to take the HPM Board exam.
The Community Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship at the University of Colorado allowed me to pursue HPM fellowship while continuing to stay in my rural community in Western Colorado. I was able to continue working in the ED and also start an inpatient Palliative Care program at my local hospital. While it wasn't easy, the faculty gave me all the support and tools I needed to successfully navigate fellowship and obtain the knowledge and expertise to become a Palliative Care leader in my community and hospital. Our inpatient Palliative Care service is now five years old and thriving and even expanding into the outpatient realm. I can't thank everyone in this program enough for their genuine care for me and my goal of bringing Palliative Care to my region.
- Brandy D. Drake, MD | Emergency Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Medicine Physician, Valley View Hospital
Program Components
Community HPM Fellowship Seminar and Portfolio | Courses will be completed over a 2-year period that will overlap, at least in part, with the MSPC. CHPM Fellows will be part of the HPM Fellowship but will complete their clinical work off campus in their community.
Your portfolio will include your clinical experiences with feedback, HPM patient logs, 360 evaluations from your clinical sites, as well as selected items from the MSPC such a Quality Improvement Projects. At the end of each semester fellows will present their portfolios to the Clinical Competency Committee (CCC) which evaluates all HPM Fellows using the recently approved HPM Milestones.
Seminar | In the seminar, physicians will submit written work-ups of their patients, work on video assignments to develop and improve communication and assessment skills, which are paired with assigned readings. Fellows will receive feedback and mentoring on-line from faculty. These clinical experiences will come from your own practice in your community. Every 2-weeks during a 2 hours video conference of CHPM Fellows with the faculty, you will orally present cases, receive feedback, hear other fellows’ cases and discuss the on-line content.
There are 6 seminar courses over 6 semesters (2-years).
Number of Fellowship Slots | The CHPM Fellowship is approved for upwards of 12 slots for a 2-year program. Applicants who are currently enrolled in the MSPC and demonstrate ability to thrive in the on-line and distance learning environment will strengthen their application for this completive program.
Who is Eligible? | Physicians will enroll in the Master of Science in Palliative Care at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. This program is interprofessional and fellow students will be physicians but also nurses, PA, pharmacist, social workers and spiritual care providers. This program is designed to emulate the in person clinical experience in a primarily on-line setting and fulfills many of didactic and other non-clinical requirements of the HPM Fellowship.
After applying to the MSPC, physicians can then apply the CHPM Fellowship Seminar which support them to build a clinical portfolio to meet the clinical requirements. Successful completion of both the MSPC and CHPM are required to become board eligible.
After completing the first 3 semesters (15 credits) of the MSPC, physicians can then apply the CHPM Fellowship Seminar which support them to build a clinical portfolio to meet the clinical requirements. Successful completion of both the MSPC and CHPM are required to become board eligible.
Fellowship eligibility:
- accepted into the MSPC degree program and successful completion of the first three semesters (5 classes, 15 credits)
- established in their community practice
- 5 or more years since the completion of their last residency or fellowship training
- Complete application for the CHPM Fellowship
- Maintain board certification in their primary board and obtain letter of support from the board for participation in the CHPM.
- Maintain your state license(s), DEA to support prescription authority, privileges at all practice sites and your current Malpractice Insurance
- Memo of Concurrence with your practice, hospital or healthcare system to participate in the CHPM Fellowship and demonstration of access to needed clinical patient populations
When I began to shift focus from emergency medicine to palliative medicine I knew that, for a variety of reasons, a traditional fellowship would be out of the question. A mentor at Harvard's Palliative Care Education and Practice program highly recommended the University of Colorado master's degree in palliative care. When the fellowship came into being I knew I would want to be part of the inaugural class. The fellowship exceeded all expectations. The faculty are highly skilled clinicians and educators who are equally comfortable teaching complex symptom management and advanced communication skills. The program was rigorous, but drawing on my work as a hospice medical director made it even more meaningful. In addition to giving me the tools with which to do my job well (and pass the palliative medicine boards!), the program brought fast friendships with both colleagues and faculty. This fellowship is ideal for any mid career physician who wishes to embark on a path in palliative medicine.
- Carol Curran, MD | Medical Director, The Community Hospice
Tuition
The Master of Science in Palliative Care, Interprofessional Palliative Care Certificate, and Community Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship program tuition is billed on a per credit hour basis. New tuition rates are established each spring and normally go into effect fall semester. The Certificate program is 12 credits, and the MS program is 33 credits.
Tuition rates for the 2023-2024 academic year are:$767 per credit hour for Colorado and WRGP-approved MS and Certificate students
$1,123 per credit hour for out-of-state MS and Certificate students
$1,100 per credit hour for CHPM Fellowship Courses (in-state and out-of-state rate is the same)
The University of Colorado community hospice and palliative care medicine fellowship, in conjunction with the masters program provided me an education and opportunities in hospice and palliative care medicine that are unparalleled and previously unavailable. There are limited opportunities for a mid to late career physician, let alone a working academic trauma surgeon/ surgical intensivist to pursue training and board certification in hospice and palliative care medicine. The outstanding faculty and the faculty mentors involved in this program provided exactly that for me. I feel grateful, fortunate, and proud to have been part of a program with such extraordinary interdisciplinary faculty, that provided a fantastic didactic curriculum and integrated clinical education.
- Barry Platnick, MD, MSPC, FACS | Surgical Intensive Care Unit Director & Trauma Medical Director, Denver Health Medical Center