New On-Demand Training Focusing on Serious Illness Conversations Now Available

November 30, 2023

The Center for Advancing Serious Illness Communication (CASIC), a joint initiative of the MMA and Minnesota Hospital Association, has launched its first series of on-demand training to introduce healthcare providers and other members of care teams to serious illness conversations (SIC).   

CASIC, which is sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, is focused on: 

• creating a dedicated statewide community standard on how to address SIC, with a focus on training, implementation and workflow processes;  

• encouraging consistent and higher usage of SIC by providers; and  

• helping normalize the practice across all healthcare organizations to the benefit of patients, their families and clinicians. 

This three-module introductory training series begins the process of preparing clinicians and healthcare organizations to engage every patient experiencing a serious illness in meaningful discussions about their diagnosis, prognosis and care choices. It focuses on the Serious Illness Communication Guide, an evidence-based tool developed by Ariadne Labs, which is a joint center for health systems innovation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. 

“We’re excited to be launching this important training,” said Janet Silversmith, MMA CEO. “Patients deserve compassionate and reliable support from their clinical team in understanding their prognosis and in prospectively defining the care that they do and don’t want to receive. This program seeks to make those conversations the rule, rather than the exception.” 

The free training is available to all members of care teams who work with patients with serious illnesses. The modules are taken in sequence, as each subsequent module builds on the knowledge gained in previous modules. They can be accessed on the CASIC website. 

These modules are CME-eligible for physicians. Other health professionals who participate in this CME activity may submit their Statement of Attendance to their appropriate accrediting organizations or state boards for consideration of credit.  They will be a prerequisite for more extensive virtual classroom training launching in early 2024, which will focus on learning how to conduct these conversations effectively and with confidence using role-playing techniques, as well as how to incorporate them into day-to-day workflows.