The next WIHI broadcast — Medicare Reimbursement and Meaningful Conversations about End-of-Life Care — will take place on Thursday, November 19, from 2 to 3 PM ET, and we hope you’ll tune in. Our guests will include:

• Kate Lally, MD, FACP, Director of Palliative Care, Care New England; Hospice Medical Director, VNA of Care New England; Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine, Alpert Medical School of Brown University
• Harriet Warshaw, Executive Director, The Conversation Project
• Holly Oh, MD, Chief Medical Officer, The Dimock Center
• Jocelyn Moore, Managing Director, The Glover Park Group

On October 30, the US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that, starting January 1, CMS will reimburse physicians and other practitioners for talking with any Medicare recipient about their health care preferences at the end of life — also known as advance care planning. Caught up in a political maelstrom several years ago, CMS has now caught up with a growing desire of patients and loved ones to express, and have health care respect, their wishes. Talking with a trusted provider is an important part of the process.

Will the new CMS payment options that go into effect in January 2016 make advance care discussions more likely and encourage health professionals to gain the necessary skills? That’s certainly the hope, and we’re going to sort through the latest developments on the November 19 WIHI: Medicare Reimbursement and Meaningful Conversations about End-of-Life Care.

The good news is that more people today appreciate the need to articulate their preferences regarding end-of-life care. We know this from surveys and our own experiences, and because multiple initiatives, including Respecting Choices and The Conversation Project (TCP), have tapped into a groundswell of interest in tools and resources to conduct discussions about end-of-life care wherever they can occur… around the kitchen table, at family gatherings, at community centers, and in the workplace. The next frontier is for health care to reliably “receive, record, and respect” everyone’s stated wishes.

That’s where our November 19 WIHI panel comes in. Each guest will weigh in on whether paying providers could accelerate these changes. Kate Lally of Care New England, a member of IHI’s Conversation Ready initiative, will speak from the experience of an organization that’s ahead of the curve with best practices; Jocelyn Moore, who worked in the US Senate for 15 years, will offer a historical and policy context; TCP’s Harriet Warshaw has the bead on grassroots efforts to normalize talking about end-of-life care; and Holly Oh, from the Dimock Center, will share the challenges of integrating end-of-life care conversations into the workflow of a neighborhood health center.

Chances are you, too, have something to contribute. It’s a terrific moment to learn from our guests and from you, so please join us for the November 19 WIHI.

You can enroll for the broadcast here. We’d also appreciate it if you would spread the word about the show via Twitter.