CCM ECHO: LGBTQ Care (July 7, 2022)

Program Information

Project ECHO Complex Care Management (Project ECHO CCM) aims to translate the Project ECHO model, originally intended for physicians, into a tool that supports nurses as they care for their most complex patients. The faculty team on Project ECHO CCM is comprised of:

  • Nurse Practitioner and Nurse Executives
  • Medical Provider
  • Behavioral Health Provider
  • Registered Dietician and Certified Diabetes Educator

Together, the CCM faculty team provide their expert knowledge to assist the nurses participating in the session to practice to the top of their license and provide complex patients with person-centered care at a high quality and low cost.

At each session, nurses present their patient cases to the faculty team and receive expert advice and feedback to enhance their care delivery. The community of participating nurses also benefit from the learning network as well as the opportunity to improve their leadership and collaboration skills.  

Target Audience

This activity is appropriate for nurses.

Registration Information

Enrollment in Weitzman ECHO Complex Care Management is rolling and access is available for a subscription fee for one year based on the number of nurses from your organization who would like access to this activity.  Please contact us here if you would like more information or to sign up for this ECHO.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this activity, participants should be able to do the following:

  • Assist nurses to better manage the care of their medically complex patients. 
  • Empower nurses to guide other team members and better manage and coordinate patient care
  • Train nurses to become successful and effective nurse care managers
Activity summary
Available credit: 
  • 1.50 ACPE
    Through Joint Accreditation, Moses/Weitzman Health Center, Inc./Weitzman Institute is able to provide Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) credit to pharmacists at its activities.
  • 1.50 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit
    Through Joint Accreditation, Moses/Weitzman Health Center, Inc./Weitzman Institute is able to provide AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ to physicians at its activities via Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME).
  • 1.50 ANCC
    Through Joint Accreditation, Moses/Weitzman Health Center, Inc./Weitzman Institute is able to provide American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) nursing credit to nurses at its activities.
  • 1.50 Participation Hour(s)
    You are able to download an unaccredited Participation Certificate for your records if you are not able to use any of the credit types provided for this activity or if this activity does not offer accredited CME/CE credits.
Activity opens: 
01/01/2022
Activity expires: 
12/31/2022

Schedule

This ECHO meets the first and third Thursday of every month from 11am-12:30pm ET. Below are the dates for all remaining sessions:

  • May 19, 2022
  • June 2, 2022
  • June 16, 2022
  • July 7, 2022
  • July 21, 2022
  • August 4, 2022
  • August 18, 2022
  • September 1, 2022
  • September 15, 2022
  • October 6, 2022
  • October 20, 2022
  • November 3, 2022
  • November 17, 2022
  • December 1, 2022

Faculty

Mary Blankson, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, FAAN, is the lead faculty member for Project ECHO Complex Care Management and is the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) for Community Health Center, Inc., overseeing diverse nursing services across the CHC network, including primary care, health care for the homeless, and school based health services. As CNO she ensures the quality and expansion of nursing services, the development of nursing policy, and continuing nurse education. Mary also works collaboratively to ensure Joint Commission and Patient Centered Medical Home compliance throughout CHC. Building upon her service in various missions organizations, Mary continued to develop her passion for meeting the needs of the underserved by earning her MSN at Yale University in 2005. Mary joined CHC as a family nurse practitioner shortly after graduation. While at CHC, Mary has served as the On-Site Medical Director of the New London County Sites, the Vice President of the Medical Staff, the Chair of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee, and has served as a preceptor for CHC’s Nurse Practitioner Residency Program. She has earned a DNP at Johns Hopkins University. Mary is certified and holds professional membership in the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. While in New London as a primary care provider, Mary was the New London County Project ECHO HIV/HCV representative. Her passion to support the management of hepatitis C within the primary care setting is what promoted her choosing her DNP capstone entitled: “Increasing Identification and Treatment Referral of Individuals with Hepatitis C (HCV) in the Primary Care Setting Through Clinical Dashboards.” She continues to support various other quality improvement projects throughout the agency to increase the visibility of nursing’s contribution to the Medical Home.

Dan Wilensky, MD, is a Family Physician who has been with CHC for over 15 years.  He obtained his MD from University of Virginia Medical School in 1992 and completed the U.Conn Family Medicine Residency in 1995.  In addition to providing direct patient care to his patients at CHC’s Meriden site, Dr. Wilensky serves in several roles in the Weitzman Institute focused on educating the next generation of health care providers and expanding their scope of practice.  He is the Chief Preceptor and Medical Consultant to CHC’s APRN Residency Program, and provides the same support for remotely hosted residency programs. He is the medical faculty for Weitzman ECHO – complex cases, the first ECHO for nurses.  He has a support role for Weitzman ECHO-Pain.  He is the Chief Quality Reviewer for CeCN (CHC/Weitzman’s eConsult network.)  Dr. Wilensky is also a Clinical Instructor for U.Conn, having taught their Medical Students for over 20 years, and a Community Preceptor with Middlesex Family Medicine Residency, providing supervision to MDs of 4 different training years. He likes yoga, movies, triathlon training, spending time with family, and advocating for a plant-based diet, health care as a right not a privilege, and environmental issues.

Daniel Bryant, MSEd, LPC, CCTP, is the behavioral health expert on the Project ECHO CCM faculty team. He brings extensive experience and education in working with trauma and substance abuse and has worked in the Middletown community for the past three years. He works at CHC and spends most of his time treating adult and adolescent individual behavioral health clients. In addition, Dan runs the CHC Middletown Suboxone group, is a member of CHC’s Behavioral Health Quality Improvement Team, supervises Master’s level LPC interns, trains CHC’s Nurse Practitioner residents in substance abuse treatment and diagnosis, and facilitates the In It 2 Quit group to help individuals struggling to quit smoking. He also practices Complex Care Management in the community by coordinating care for CHC patients at a local shelter and working on the Middletown Community Care Team through Middlesex Hospital.

Michele Roy, RD, CDCES, is a registered dietician and expert on the Project ECHO CCM faculty. Michele graduated from the University of Connecticut from a coordinated undergraduate program in nutrition and has been practicing as a registered dietician since 1991. Michele began her career as a clinical and outpatient dietician, working in a community hospital and for a WIC program. In the year 2000, Michelle earned her Certified Diabetes Educator credential, which is now known as a Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist (CDCES) credential. In the year 2007, Michele began working for the Joselin Diabetes affiliates out of New Britain, Connecticut and later transitioned to a bariatric and endocrinology office at Saint Francis until she found her way to the Community Health Center, Inc. in the year 2018. Michele still holds her CDCES credential and thoroughly enjoys working with patients who have diabetes.

Weitzman Institute Disclosure Statement

It is the policy of the Weitzman Institute to ensure that Continuing Education (CE) activities are independent and free of commercial bias. To ensure educational content is objective, balanced, and guarantee content presented is in the best interest of its learners' and the public, the Weitzman Institute requires that everyone in a position to control educational content disclose all financial relationships with ineligible companies within the prior 24 months. An ineligible company is one whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients. Examples can be found at accme.org.

Faculty participating in a Weitzman Institute-sponsored activity must disclose to the planning committee and audience all financial or other relationship(s) with ineligible companies.

Faculty Disclosures

No faculty disclosed a relevant financial relationship for this program.

Accreditation Statement

In support of improving patient care, Community Health Center, Inc./Weitzman Institute is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credential Center (ANCC) to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

Designation Statement

Through Joint Accreditation, Community Health Center, Inc./Weitzman Institute is able to provide American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) nursing credit to nurses and Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) credit to pharmacists at its activities.

By completing this activity you provide the Weitzman Institute permission to share completion data with the ACCME and the certifying board(s).

Joint Accreditation Logo

Available Credit

  • 1.50 ACPE
    Through Joint Accreditation, Moses/Weitzman Health Center, Inc./Weitzman Institute is able to provide Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) credit to pharmacists at its activities.
  • 1.50 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit
    Through Joint Accreditation, Moses/Weitzman Health Center, Inc./Weitzman Institute is able to provide AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ to physicians at its activities via Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME).
  • 1.50 ANCC
    Through Joint Accreditation, Moses/Weitzman Health Center, Inc./Weitzman Institute is able to provide American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) nursing credit to nurses at its activities.
  • 1.50 Participation Hour(s)
    You are able to download an unaccredited Participation Certificate for your records if you are not able to use any of the credit types provided for this activity or if this activity does not offer accredited CME/CE credits.
Please login or register to take this activity.

Enrollment in Weitzman ECHO Complex Care Management rolling and access is available for a subscription fee for one year based on the number of nurses from your organization who would like access to this activity.  Please contact us here if you would like more information or to sign up for this ECHO.

Required Hardware/Software

  • This online activity requires use of a device connected to the Internet, such as a computer tablet or mobile device. 
  • The ECHO will take place over Zoom, which must be accessed directly from within the activity.