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State of California Offers Palliative Care Training Funding for Medi-Cal Providers

The California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) has announced it will provide $244,000 to fund palliative care education for qualified Medi-Cal providers through the California State University Institute for Palliative Care.

The funding will support the implementation of Senate Bill 1004 (Hernandez, 2014), which expands palliative care services to Med-Cal beneficiaries. Palliative care is a patient-centered, whole-person approach that helps people with serious or life-limiting illness live well, from diagnosis until death.

DHCS chose the Institute to deliver the training based on its record of providing convenient, high-quality palliative care education for health professionals across multiple disciplines.

Under the contract, Medi-Cal providers and their clinician staff – including doctors, nurses, and social workers – can obtain free enrollment in the Institute’s online programs. Eligible applicants care for Medi-Cal beneficiaries and can benefit from gaining a better understanding of palliative care, how to recognize the chronically or seriously ill people who need it, and how to provide palliative care services.

All Institute courses, developed by clinical experts in palliative care, are online, engaging, interactive, and accessible 24/7. Each course provides continuing education credits or continuing medical education credits.

Enrollment will be funded on a first-come, first-served basis. DHCS will continue to accept applications until all funding has been committed.

For a list of available courses, click here.

Providers or clinicians eligible for free courses under the DHCS funding may apply online. DHCS will review all applications, and the Institute will notify applicants about a decision within approximately five business days.

This program is available immediately, until the funding is expended.

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