Description

This Virtual Training will provide a practical, relevant, and comprehensive overview of Pediatric Concurrent Hospice Care as an approach that allows children and adolescents to receive ongoing disease-directed therapies alongside hospice services. Participants will learn the foundations of Concurrent Hospice Care under Section 2302 of the Affordable Care Act including eligibility criteria, planning and coordination requirements, and interdisciplinary collaborative strategies. Case examples will emphasize both regulatory and real-world applications. The Virtual Training will highlight potential perceived challenges – such as communication barriers, service coordination, and transitions across care settings – to offer clarity, consistency, and actionable considerations rooted in ethics-informed evidence-based practice. 

Learning Outcomes

• Define and describe concurrent hospice care for children and adolescents.  
• Determine what content would be most helpful for inclusion in a Concurrent HospiceCare Toolkit. 
• Develop strategies for implementing concurrent hospice care for children and adolescents in your organization. 

Faculty

Lisa C. Lindley, PhD, RN, FPCN, FAAN 

Dr. Lisa C. Lindley is a Professor and Nightingale Endowed Faculty Fellow in the College of Nursing at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing from the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill and a Master of Science in Business from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her formal research training was supported by a National Institutes of Health (NIH) T32 predoctoral fellowship, an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) R36 dissertation award, and an NIH K01 career development award, providing a strong foundation in health services research and policy evaluation. 

Dr. Lindley is the recipient of multiple NIH research project grants (R01, R56) supporting her nationally recognized program of research in pediatric concurrent hospice care. She has published extensively in high-impact journals and is widely regarded for her contributions to advancing evidence-based pediatric palliative and hospice care. Her current research focuses on the intersection of pediatrics, access, quality, and equity, with particular attention to improving care delivery for children and adolescents with serious illness and their families. The overarching goal of her work is to promote high-quality, equitable, and accessible hospice care across diverse populations and healthcare settings. 

Her research program integrates data science, advanced statistical methodologies, and Big Data analytics to evaluate real-world health services and policy interventions, including the impact of federal and state policies on pediatric end-of-life care. Dr. Lindley serves as Director of the PedEOL Care Research Group, where she leads interdisciplinary research efforts, mentors trainees and early-career investigators, and collaborates with national stakeholders to translate research findings into practice and policy. 

Dr. Lindley is an active member of the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association, the American Academy of Nursing, and the Statewide Pediatric Palliative Care Coalitions Network. In recognition of her scholarly contributions, she was named the 2023 Distinguished Researcher by the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association. She is a member of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing, serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, and regularly contributes as a peer reviewer for the National Institutes of Health. 

Meaghann Weaver, MD, PhD, MPH, HEC-C, FAAP 

Dr. Meaghann Weaver serves as a palliative care physician and senior bioethicist at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital. She graduated with majors in theology and African Studies – thinking she’d become an anthropologist. She completed pediatric residency at CHKD in Virginia and then completed a pediatric heme/onc fellowship at St. Jude with additional research training at DC Children’s National Health Systems. Meaghann received her public health degree (global health epidemiology) from George Washington University. She then completed palliative care and hospice fellowships at the National Institutes of Health and an NIH-funded PhD in clinical and translational research. Her research centers around supportive care and care delivery for children with complex, critical, and chronic illness. She’s passionate about teamwork, pediatric palliative care’s sustainable workforce, and the families served by their compassionate, creative care!