Goals of Care Coalition of New Jersey. Helping patients get the care they need and no less, and the care they want and no more. Helping patients with serious illness get the care they need and no less, and the care they want and no more.

Palliative Care Task Force

The Goals of Care Coalition of New Jersey (GOCCNJ) Palliative Care Task Force launched in 2022 with a guiding vision, clarity of mission, and specific goals that underpin GOCCNJ’s advocacy efforts. The Task Force has identified four key priorities:

Define palliative care; identify the population in need

Identify gaps in the current Medicaid coverage for beneficiaries with serious illness

Set a baseline of services based on past experience and experiences from states currently implementing the benefit

Work with government agencies, state legislators, health providers, patients and caregivers to support implementation of NJ FamilyCare (Medicaid) Community-Based Palliative Care Benefit

GOCCNJ Task Force Members:

Advisors:

Gregory J. Rokosz, D.O., J.D., FACEP, FACOEP, Chief Medical Officer, Hackensack Meridian Raritan Bay Medical Center & Old Bridge Medical Center; GOCCNJ Board Chair

Joel C. Cantor, Sc.D., Director, Center for State Health Policy, Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research; Distinguished Professor of Public Policy, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy; Professor, Rutgers School of Public Policy

Members:

Ayse Akincigil, PhD, Associate Professor School of Social Work Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; Core Member Institute for Health and Health Care Policy and Aging Research Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Alex Binder, Vice President of the Parker Advanced Care Institute

Katie Bisaha, Community Health and Policy Associate, New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute

David Barile, MD, Founder & Chief Medical Officer, GOCCNJ; Director Palliative Medicine Service & Medical Director of the Acute Care for the Elderly Unit, Penn Medicine Princeton Health

Katie DeMarco, DNP, MSHS, FNP-BC, APN, ACHPN, Clinical Supervisor & Palliative APN, HMH – Hackensack University Medical Center, Pain & Palliative Medicine Institute

Susan Dulczak MSN, PPCNP-BC, CPON, CHPPN, Director, Valerie Center, Pediatric Medical Day Stay, Pediatric Palliative Care, RWJ Barnabas Health, The Unterberg Children’s Hospital, Monmouth Medical Center

Theresa Edelstein, Senior Vice President, Center for Partnerships Transforming Health at New Jersey Hospital Association

Nancy Fitterer, President and CEO at Home Care & Hospice Association of NJ

Stephen Goldfine, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Samaritan Healthcare & Hospice

M. Hamza Habib, MD, JD, MBA, Director of Outpatient Palliative Medicine and Cancer Pain Service at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. GOCCNJ Chief Medical Officer

Jessica Israel, MD, Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Complete Care Management and Chief Medical Officer, NJ Palliative Care Solutions; GOCCNJ Board Member

Sage Farrar Kealy, MBA, MPH, FHELA, FACHE, Director of Palliative Care Services for Hackensack Meridian Health

Cathy Rowe, DrPH, Executive Director at the NJ Advocates for Aging Well

Jill Schwartz-Chevlin, MD, MBA, Chief Medical Officer, VYNCA

Ted Taylor, Chaplain, Director of Chaplaincy & Volunteer Services at RWJBarnabas Health