Andwell’s Dr. Elizabeth Hart receives national recognition
Elizabeth Balsam Hart, MD, Hospice Medical Director/Director of Medical Services at Andwell Health Partners, the largest, non-profit home and community-based healthcare and care management organization in Maine, has been named one of the most influential leaders in hospice and palliative care, a field focused on relieving suffering and improving quality of life for people with serious illnesses.
The American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine asked its more than 5,000 members to nominate 2024 AAHPM Visionaries in Hospice and Palliative Care.
“To be recognized as an AAHPM Visionary is a great honor and is deeply humbling to me personally,” Dr. Hart said. “More significantly, this recognition acknowledges the value of the shared work of many colleagues of diverse disciplines throughout Maine that ensures access to high quality Hospice and Palliative Medicine in rural and underserved communities.”
Hospice and palliative medicine focus
The specialty of hospice and palliative medicine focuses on improving quality of life and relieving pain and other symptoms in seriously ill patients, the AAHPM explained in the award announcement. Palliative care can and should be provided to patients who continue to receive treatments to try to cure or control their disease, regardless of their prognosis, they said. Hospice is a specific type of palliative care for patients whose life expectancy is likely to be six months or less.
Hospice and palliative care teams also help patients and families to understand their treatment options and to make decisions about their care. These interdisciplinary teams also offer psychosocial and spiritual support to patients, families and caregivers, and bereavement support through hospice following a patient’s death.
When the AAHPM reached out to the 2024 Visionaries to gain insight into what motivated them to pursue leadership positions and what they find more fulfilling in their experiences, Dr. Hart shared, “Being present for the deaths of my father and a dear friend early in my residency deeply impacted who I became as a doctor and as a person. These experiences permeate both my clinical work and advocacy. Patients are often my most treasured teachers.”
Dr. Hart’s vision for the future of Hospice and Palliative Medicine “is that our approach, which holds what matters most to patients and families as the center of their care, will become embedded in all elements of healthcare.”
Dr. Hart is a family physician with additional board certifications in Hospice and Palliative Medicine and Geriatrics. An honors graduate of Harvard-Radcliffe Colleges and Dartmouth Medical School, she completed her family medicine residency and her geriatric fellowship at Maine-Dartmouth Family Medicine Residency in Augusta. She is a graduate of the Practice Change Fellowship, a national program supported by the Hartford Foundation and Atlantic Philanthropies to advance excellence in geriatric leadership. She enjoyed her two-year local PCF project, “Cultivating Meaningful Conversations to Guide Care,” which focused on launching the POLST (Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment) program in Maine.
