Advance Care Planning and Life Transition Management Webinar

Lauren Cooke MSN, RN, CCM is the assistant vice president of care coordination and advanced illness management for AtlantiCare. She has been with the organization sixteen years. Lauren has responsibility for Inpatient & ED Care Management, Transitions of Care, Remote Patient Monitoring, Post-Acute Services, & Advanced Illness Management Service Line.
Lauren attended Temple University (Philadelphia, PA) and earned a Bachelor of Science in nursing degree in 2005. In 2013, she earned a Master of Science in Nursing Management and Organizational Leadership (MSN) through American Sentinel University. In 2014, she received board certification in case management. Lauren has previous experience with Medical/Surgical & Cardiac Nursing, Quality & Professional Practice for the AtlantiCare Physician Group.

Dr. Barile is the Founder and Chief Medical Officer of Goals of Care Coalition of New Jersey (GOCCNJ), a non-profit partnership of leading healthcare providers, government agencies, and community organizations dedicated to helping patients get the care they need and no less and the care they want and no more. GOCCNJ provides valuable tools and information to help facilitate conversations about medical decisions at the end of life and is working to set a new standard of care in NJ by helping healthcare providers, patients, and families make medical decisions that genuinely reflect a person’s wishes. In addition to his roll with GOCCNJ, Dr. Barile is Director of Palliative Medicine Services and Medical Director of the Acute Care for the Elderly Unit at Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center. He is also the Medical Director at Princeton Care Center Skilled Nursing Facility, Greenwood Hospice, and Goldenview Memory Home.

Dr. Barile was instrumental in designing the NJ POLST (Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment) form. He also served on the NJ Governor’s Advisory Council on End-of-Life Care. Dr. Barile has devoted much of his professional life to helping facilitate thoughtful, advance care planning conversations between health care professionals and patients and those close to them to determine what treatments patients do and do not want based on their personal beliefs and current state of health. He’s been widely published and is a sought-after speaker on the subject advance care planning and end-of-life care. He’s received numerous grants including from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Horizon Foundation, and other awards including Hospital Charitable Service Award’s Project of Promise Award and the POLST Paradigm State Innovations Award in recognition of his work on behalf of elderly patients and those suffering from advanced illness.

Jill R. O’Keeffe, Esq., is vice president, General Counsel for AtlantiCare. The healthcare system comprises AtlantiCare Regional Health Services, including AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center (ARMC) with three locations, Ambulatory Services and AtlantiCare Physician Group (APG); the AtlantiCare Foundation, and AtlantiCare Health Solutions, an accountable care organization. She joined AtlantiCare in 2016. Prior to AtlantiCare, Jill was in private practice for 17 years focusing on medical malpractice and defense of hospital systems.

Katie DeMarco, DNP, MSHS, FNP-BC, APN, ACHPN is the Pain & Palliative Medicine Clinical Supervisor and a Palliative APN at Hackensack University Medical Center where she provides specialty palliative services to patients and their family in the acute hospital, skilled nursing facilities, and in the ALS clinic. She has a passion for translating palliative evidence based guidelines and strategies to the bedside and being an innovative change agent. Since 2009, Katie has supported and led the growth of the Hackensack Palliative Care Service. Katie has a BA in Human Services, a BS in Nursing, a Masters of Health Science in End of Life Care, Masters of Nursing in Family Practice, and in 2015 she earned a clinical Doctorate in Palliative Care. She is a certified family nurse practitioner by the American Nurses Credentialing Center and is a board-certified Hospice and Palliative Care Advanced Practice Nurse by the HPCC. Katie participates in state and national organizations and initiatives such as the NJ Department of Health Palliative Care Work Group, NJ Governor’s Council for Palliative and End of life care, member of the Goals of Care Coalition of New Jersey, HPNA APN Advisory Council, and she is a past president and the current VP, Health Policy/Legislation & Community, for the NJ Palliative Care APN Consortium. Katie is passionate about mentoring others, participating in palliative research and enjoys editing, and writing palliative articles and chapters.

Father Joseph Monahan, MDiv, MA, MS, BCC is the Director of Pastoral Care at Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital.

Fr. Joseph (Joe) Monahan is a Franciscan priest and has dedicated many years to hospital chaplaincy, ministering to patients, their families and staff. He has been a board-certified chaplain with the National Association of Catholic Chaplains.
Most of his healthcare career he has served as Director of Pastoral Care and Mission Leader promoting and integrating the mission and core values into the life of the institution.
He has served on the Bio-ethics committee in various hospitals for many years and chaired the Ethics Committee in several hospitals where he was employed. He has served on the faculty of Catholic Ministry Foundations Program for Trinity Health presenting the Ethical and Religious Directives of Catholic Healthcare to physicians, nurses and leadership.
Fr. Joe has a particular interest in end-of-life care and has worked closely with Palliative Medicine and Hospice Care over the years.
At Virtua Health where he serves as Director of Pastoral Care, he is also a member of the Ethics Committee, Colleague Dispute Committee, RISE Committee, Sharing Network Organ Donation Committee, Code Blue Committee, Stewardship Committee and has served on the WE Awards Committee.

Erica Durso, MSW, CSW, CCM is the Manager of Case Management at Virtua Voorhees Hospital. Erica has been with the organization for 14 years. Erica attended Rutgers University and earned both a Bachelors and Master’s Degree in Social Work, she received her certification in Case Management in 2020. Erica has previous experience as a hospital social worker and as a social worker in skilled nursing.

Tina Ellis RN, BSN is currently the Regional Director of Clinical Services for Angelic Hospice overseeing the development of programs and day to day functions of an exceptional team of hospice professionals in both the West Atlantic City and Wenonah offices. She has over 15 years of Critical Care/Cardiac experience in the Acute Care setting and has served as an Executive Director of a Hospice Program in South Jersey.

She has developed strategies to improve cost saving measures, enhance service provision to those at the end of life and demonstrates a high level of integrity and compassion for her team, patients and families. She enjoys education and assisting her team in improving processes for excellence in delivering care to those at the end of life. Her belief is “Do the right thing always” and that clearly communicating with people aides in building stronger relationships and leads to successful outcomes.

Sue Battaglia, BSN, MBA, RN is a Court Appointed temporary medical guardian with over 40 years of nursing and nursing leadership experience, most recently assistant Vice President of Nursing at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center responsible for nursing operations at the mainland campus in Pomona, NJ. I retired in November 2022 and in February of 2023 was approved by the Atlantic County Surrogate Court as a temporary medical guardian with AtlantiCare. My responsibilities are to provide medical decision making for patients in the facility who have been deemed not competent to make decisions independently. My role helps to transition the patient during the hospital stay and throughout the care continuum until a permanent guardian is assigned by the Court. My healthcare background has allowed me the ability to evaluate and advocate for the care that is needed.