Patricia Bomba, MD, MACP

MOLST Statewide Implementation Program Chair, MOLST/eMOLST Program Director

Dr. Bomba has led the development and implementation of MOLST/eMOLST since inception. Prior to joining Excellus BlueCross BlueShield in 2000, Dr. Bomba was in private practice caring for frail elders and patients with advanced illness in all settings – office, hospital, ICU, long term care and home – and brings that experience to the system implementation of MOLST/eMOLST. Having cared for her mother who had a MOLST for the last 15 months of her life, she believes in MOLST and recognizes the value of eMOLST both professionally and personally.

Carla Braveman, BSN, RN, M.ED, CHCE 

CEO & President of Hospice and Palliative Care Association of NY State

HPCANYS is dedicated to its mission to promote the availability and accessibility of quality hospice and palliative care for all persons in New York State confronted with life-limiting illness.  We view MOLST as a vital component of care for individuals who are facing end of life care decisions and want their wishes known and respected.  Hospice programs and palliative care programs, support the expansion and use of MOLST and eMOLST throughout the state. Carla adds, “although professionally I have known the value of MOLST to help clarify someone’s wishes,  recently we felt the power of MOLST while at the hospital with my mother in law. It helped us understand what she wanted and did not want so that we could guide her care the way she wanted it to be.”

Sara Butterfield, RN, BSN, CPHQ, CCM

IPRO Senior Director / Health Care Quality Improvement

As the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for NYS, IPRO has had the honor and privilege of collaborating with Dr. Bomba on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) defined priorities impacting the care management and health outcomes of NYS residents. Over the last decade IPRO has partnered with Dr. Bomba to integrate a community-based approach to advance care planning, MOLST and eMOLST into care transition initiatives. Our IPRO team is excited to be involved in ECHO MOLST: Honoring End of Life Preferences Initiative, with the goal to spread and sustain education and quality improvement on MOLST and eMOLST.

Stephen J. Evans, MD

Chief Medical Officer, Family Choice NY
Medical Director, Susquehanna Nursing and Rehab

After finishing his fellowship in Geriatric Medicine, Dr. Evans spent his career looking for ways to protect elderly patients from often unhelpful and sometimes harmful aggressive medical interventions in the last months of life. Over time, Evans focused on educational and care management interventions to provide as much risk-benefit information for patients and their advocates, realizing that people will make the best decisions for themselves and their loved ones with complete and accurate information.  Dr. Evans states, “MOLST is a cornerstone of my clinical and administrative Geriatric work in all settings; I’ve participated with Dr. Bomba and the MOLST team in regional leadership and on-the-ground implementation almost from its inception. I applaud Pat’s leadership in helping to provide a legal framework allowing New Yorkers to receive only the medical care that they prefer.”

Dr. Emma Fattakhov, M.D.

Director of Palliative Care in the Greater Hudson Valley Health System

Early in her career, Dr. Fattakhov worked as an obstetrician, introducing newborns to the world. Later, as an emergency physician, she resuscitated countless lives. After undertaking further training in geriatrics and palliative care, she discovered that caring for patients at the end of life is the most challenging and rewarding endeavor. Dr. Fattakhov’s department was among the first in the country to incorporate eMOLST into an electronic medical system.

Jane B. Ginsburg, JD

Executive Director, Alzheimer’s Association, NYS Coalition

Jane Ginsburg joined the MOLST team and Executive Committee when the Alzheimer’s Association, NYS Coalition began actively advocating for better advance care planning coordination throughout New York state. Since that time, she continues to represent the 400,000 New Yorkers with Alzheimer’s and their 1.1 million caregivers on the MOLST executive team, and brings the information shared and promoted by the MOLST team back to the Coalition to aid our efforts to reduce end-of-life crises and promote long-term care and healthcare planning.

Meg Greco, MPA

Geriatrics & Palliative Care Coordinator at Excellus BlueCross BlueShield

Meg works as part of a core team to support innovative initiatives in palliative care and geriatrics, including the statewide implementation of MOLST and eMOLST to ensure New Yorker’s end-of-life wishes are honored. Her interest in palliative care and specifically MOLST began when she studied the MOLST program in graduate school and discovered its ability to prevent unwanted medical interventions at the end-of-life while simultaneously lowering health care costs.

Carolyn Kazdan, M.H.S.A., L.N.H.A.

Assistant Director, Health Care Quality Improvement at IPRO

Prior to joining IPRO to lead the CMS Special Innovation Project on Transforming End of Life Care on Long Island, Ms. Kazdan worked as a licensed nursing home administrator and oversaw the facility implementation of MOLST in her facility.  Lessons learned from that experience and her own experience observing her elderly mother being handed a POLST form in Pennsylvania to complete for her father strengthened her commitment to supporting MOLST and eMOLST training for healthcare professionals across the continuum of care.

Mark L. Kissinger

Special Advisor to the Commissioner Health, New York State Department of Health

Mark Kissinger is involved with the MOLST program through his work leading the Aging and Long Term Care (ALTC) team at the NYS Department of Health. The ALTC team is working on the Governor’s call for an advance care planning project in his 2018 State of the State book.

Jane Lowers, MPA

Researcher, American Institutes for Research

Ms. Lowers is a health services researcher and a PhD candidate in palliative care at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom. Her research interests include advance care planning, patient engagement, and caregiver experience. Ms. Lowers is interested in research on the implementation and effects of MOLST and eMOLST in New York, and in documenting the program’s steps to achieve mature status from National POLST.

Katie Orem, MPH

Palliative Care Program Manager at Excellus BCBS, eMOLST administrator

Katie is the geriatrics and palliative care program manager at Excellus BlueCross BlueShield in Rochester, NY. She also serves as the eMOLST administrator for the New York State eMOLST system. She has been working on advance care planning, end-of-life care and palliative care issues, including MOLST, since she was a summer college intern with Dr. Bomba starting in 2006. In 2008 she graduated from Cornell University and went on to get her Master’s in Public Health from Yale University in 2011.

Michael A. Paulsen, Esq.

Attorney, Hinman Straub PC

Michael Paulsen, Esq. is Legislative Counsel for the MOLST Program and works closely with the Committee in drafting and advancing state legislation to promote, sustain and grow the MOLST Program and improve palliative care in New York.

Beth Popp, MD FACP HMDC FAAHPM

Senior Faculty, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Attending Physician, Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine

Dr. Beth Popp is a hospice and palliative medicine clinician-educator and is the current chair of the NYS Palliative Care Education and Training Council for the DOH. Dr. Popp has been involved in educating attending and resident physicians, nurses and social workers on how to engage in skillful advance care planning, within the scope of their professions. She has been including the value of MOLST  and eMOLST in this process since it became available throughout New York State.

Donnie Richman, JD, MN, BSN

Risk Management/ Health Care Law counsel at Fager Amsler Keller & Schoppmann LLP

Donnie Richman participated in the initial MOLST project in Onondaga County because of her interest and experiences as a nurse in difficult end of life situations. Richman joined the MOLST committee Dr. Bomba headed to help implement MOLST throughout NYS and to support passage of the FCHDA. Because she works with hospitals and physicians, Richman is called to advise them how to comply legally with end of life decisions. Finally, Richman’s mother had Alzheimer’s dementia and MOLST orders were offered after a good discussion by her physician. As her mother’s HCP,  Richman was able to carry out her wishes.  She states that “it was extremely comforting to know that there would be no unnecessary interventions. At age 97, she had a peaceful death as she, my brother and I wanted. Experiencing the benefits of MOST orders personally is why I so strongly support these efforts.”

Judith A. Salerno, MD, MS

President, The New York Academy of Medicine

For seriously ill patients, shared decision-making that leads to medical orders which honor patient preferences could not be more important. Judy Salerno has been an ardent supporter of this principle throughout her career and is pleased to be able to further this work in New York as a member of the MOLST executive committee. All health professionals must understand the critical need for MOLST to assure high quality care for people approaching the end of life.

Kathryn Santos, PT, MPA

Director of Quality Improvement Initiatives, Continuing Care Leadership Coalition (CCLC), the long term care affiliate of the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA)

Kathryn’s role in CCLC focuses on the facilitation of quality improvement policy, strategy, and projects. Supportive of the health care system’s transformation into value based programs, she leads many activities geared toward improving care transitions. As a proponent of person-centered care and quality of life, Kathryn helps educate CCLC members, and streamline their organizational processes regarding advance care planning and the use of the MOLST.

Barbara Stegun Phair, BSN, MPA, JD

Partner at Abrams, Fensterman, Fensterman, Eisman, Formato, Ferrara, Wolf & Carrone, LLP

Prior to becoming an attorney, Barbara Stegun Phair worked as a registered professional nurse.  As an attorney, she represents and advises health care providers on regulatory issues, fraud and abuse, licensing, certification and enforcement, reimbursement issues, contractual agreements and issues, government surveys, investigations and audits, advance directives, health care decision making and patients’ rights issues, ethics committees, HIPAA, and the development and implementation of corporate compliance programs.