This WAVE leads off with thoughtful reflection from Timothy Gieseke MD, CMD, “Is it Time to Give Back?”. Next Rebecca Ferrini, MD, MPH, CMD provides actionable help to improve our improvement processes - “WHAT We Should Be Doing: A Simple Framework”. And no, capitalizing all the letters in WHAT was not an accident. Add in lots of news, information about educational opportunities and you are on our WAVElength.

Jay Luxenberg, MD

CALTCM Wave Editor In Chief

Is It Time to Give Back?

by Timothy Gieseke, MD, CMD

Shortly after the turn of the millennium, then-CALTCM President Chris Mlot closed our annual meeting with that question “Is it Time to Give Back?”. At the time, I had attended CALTCM (previously California Association of Medical Directors, CAMD) meetings for a decade and AMDA (now PALTmed) meetings for five years. Grateful for all I have gained from both organizations, I decided to give back. 

Looking back on my long career in Santa Rosa, that pivotal decision enriched my work and extended its impact on my life and the lives of many others. With encouragement from AMDA colleagues, I left my half-time office practice to work full time in PALTC. This shift enabled me to join the geriatrics faculty at the local family practice residency and serve as an associate medical director for Sutter’s local hospice. Dr. Terry Hill also invited me to work with our QIO...

WHAT We Should Be Doing: A Simple Framework

by Rebecca Ferrini, MD, MPH, CMD

At the recent annual meeting and conference for California Association of Long Term Care Medicine (CALTCM), one of the speakers, Walter Hekimian, administrator, talked about WHAT facilities might do to improve. I wanted to expound a bit more about WHAT he was talking about,

When I worked with Walt, we set ambitious goals for our facility: earn five stars, achieve a zero‑deficiency survey, and work our way through the NCAL/AHCA Silver and eventually Gold Quality Awards. These goals were clear, memorable, and motivating — but goals alone don’t create excellence. We needed a shared understanding of how we would get there.

That’s when we created WHAT — an acronym that captured the behaviors and culture we wanted to build. It was simple enough for everyone to remember, but powerful enough to remind staff of how we get to our goals.

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