Happy Fall to everyone – CALTCM is moving strongly forward in amazing ways. It has been a very busy, exciting year. The grant team we formed managed to obtain a CDPH grant to educate one- and two-star nursing facilities on leadership from an infection prevention perspective. I’m very proud and want to express my sincere gratitude to all the faculty and administration for stepping up and creating a fabulous experience for these 3 cohorts, totaling 30+ facilities in need of guidance. Mike Wasserman and Barbara Hulz have gone above and beyond in preparing for these trainings. Thank you to all involved.
Additionally, CALTCM has recently applied for a large grant to support CDPH as consultants to educate facilities who are in jeopardy of losing their licensure. Albert Lam, Mike Wasserman, and Barbara Hulz worked tirelessly to get the documents to CDPH with a quick turnaround time. We hope to hear back with positive news in the next couple of weeks.
As we grow as an organization, we have added 2 new staff members, Caitlin Rooney, our administrative assistant, and Annie Hau, who will be working as a project coordinator to assist with various programs such as the Infection Prevention and Control Leadership workshops and Annual Meeting. Please warmly welcome them to our CALTCM family!
We also have 2 new ad hoc committees; 1) Mental Health Task Force aimed at improving mental health services for older adults and access, led by Glen Xiong, MD- join this committee if this is your interest, 2) Past Presidents Advisory Council, led by Albert Lam MD CMD, CALTCM immediate Past President, aimed at assisting the Board of Directors with the wisdom over the past almost 50 years of CALTCM to make knowledgeable and historically informed decisions.
CALTCM continues to work with other organizations to grow membership, and together we can make changes in the system. For example, we are working with California Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists (CSHP) to provide pharmacist continuing education credits for CALTCM’s annual meeting, while CALTCM will provide physicians and interdisciplinary team members to assist with CSHP’s upcoming patient safety conference in February 2024 (more information to come).
We continue to work closely with our regulatory agencies, meeting with CDPH every other week to work on mutual concerns that include survey issues and Medical Director certification data. Also, we have met with the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) to help with creating reasonable WQIP (Workforce & Quality Improvement Program) guidance. And, we meet periodically with the Department of Social Services (DSS), which administers the assisted living (RCFE) domain, on request. Please join CALTCM’s Public Policy Committee if you want to have an influence on regulatory, legislative and policy matters.
CALTCM is awesome because of all of you – While I have mentioned a few standout members, I appreciate every one of you who are involved serving on committees and helping to make change. If you are not currently on a committee, please join one and work with others with the same interests.
I look forward to seeing all of you at our exciting Summit for Excellence November 2-4, 2023, at the Sheraton Universal Hotel. Come, network with colleagues, and learn cutting-edge information while earning continuing education. Bring the family and let them go bowling in CityWalk or go to Universal Studios to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!
With great respect and gratitude.
Janice
Janice Hoffman-Simen, Pharm.D., EdD, APh, BCGP, FASCP
CALTCM President