ABQAURP is pleased to announce the selection of Kimberly K. Garner, MD, JD, MPH, FAAFP, CHCQM as the recipient of the 2023 CHCQM Diplomate Achievement Award

To read about the other Award Submissions: Click HERE.

Congratulations to Dr. Garner whose submission successfully demonstrated all of the award criteria: sustainable change in quality management, measurable improvement in patient safety, and provider engagement on a large scale. The project clearly embodies the health care quality and management and patient safety principles ABQAURP was looking for in the award selection process.

Kimberly K. Garner, MD, JD, MPH, FAAFP, CHCQM, is the Rehabilitation and Extended Care Integrated Clinical Communities Lead for the South Central Veterans Health Care System Network in Little Rock, Arkansas. She served as Project Lead for the award-winning quality initiative, the Veterans Health Administration Enterprise-Wide: Advance Care Planning via Group Visits.

Advance Care Planning via Group Visits (ACP-GV) engages Veterans, their families, and caregivers in advance care planning by facilitating group discussions to prompt conversation about personal experience and encouraging participants to actively participate in the planning of future health care needs. ACP-GV’s objectives are to engage and enable Veterans to communicate future health care preferences and to improve choice and timeliness to advance care planning (ACP) discussions, especially in medically underserved rural areas.

Started as a VA Clinical Demonstration Project in 2012, the project has grown and was awarded as a VA Quality Enhancement Research Initiative to evaluate and determine best practices to promote nationwide facilitation of ACP-GV, serving tens of thousands of Veterans. According to the National ACP-GV Program database, at the end of 2022, the program was adopted in a total of 63 sites out of 171 VA medical centers.

Completion of the Advanced Directive is documented within the VA’s electronic medical record system for all providers to access. The Veteran also receives a card stating they have an Advanced Directive at their named VA Medical Center with a phone number for their providers to document.

ACP-GV exemplifies the Veterans Health Administration’s (VHA) focus on incorporating strategies to initiate “what matters” conversations in support of Age Friendly Health System across the VHA. The National ACP-GV Program applies the Whole Health and Age Friendly Health System’s 4Ms framework in many ways. ACP-GV encourages discussion and supports federal law in protecting the veteran’s rights, values, beliefs, and the inclusion of caregivers and family members and communication with their health care team.

The Project Lead, Dr. Kimberly Garner, was chosen as winner of the CHCQM Diplomate Achievement Award based on a quality improvement initiative that is sustainable over time, with impressive results, and impacting a large number of individuals in a positive manner. ACP, palliative care, and hospice are areas that health systems struggle with despite a lot of effort and resources. This initiative offers a framework that can be adopted by others for improvement throughout health care systems nationwide.

Dr. Garner’s vast health care experience is exemplified through serving on numerous committees within the VA, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, and throughout the geriatric care community. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geriatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. She has been an investigator on various research grants and has served as project lead in several VHA clinical initiatives. She has been published within the Veteran’s community, with articles in clinical care areas, and in numerous geriatric publications. She is well-versed in ACP and has presented lectures and educational activities on advanced care planning (ACP), palliative care, and various geriatric care topics.

In acceptance of the Award, Dr. Garner states, “I am tremendously honored to be awarded the 2023 CHCQM Diplomate Achievement Award for my activities in Advance Care Planning via Group Visits. Assisting individuals, especially Veterans, to plan for future medical decisions is critical in the process of honoring their personal and health care preferences. This is one of the most important aspects of our roles as health care professionals.”

ABQAURP extends a sincere Thank You to Dr. Garner, her team, and all those who submitted outstanding achievements in quality and patient safety that have led to improvement, positive outcomes, and the advancement of Health Care Quality Management and Patient Safety.

Join us at the 2023 Annual Health Care Quality & Patient Safety Conference to hear more and to congratulate Dr. Garner and celebrate all of our Diplomate’s achievements.

For more event information, please visit: www.abqaurp.org/AnnualConference.