Melissa Wachterman | Profiles RNS

Melissa Wachterman, MD

Adjunct Assistant Professor

Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Medicine

General Internal Medicine

MD, Tufts University School of Medicine
MSc, Harvard School of Public Health
MPH, Tufts University School of Medicine
BA, Haverford College

Websites

	NPCRC
	BUSM
	Harvard Catalyst

Dr. Melissa Wachterman is an Adjunct Assistant Professor with the Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine in General Internal Medicine. She is also an Assistant Professor of Medicine with Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System and Harvard affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Dr. Wacherman received her MD and MPH from Tufts University School of Medicine and her MS from Harvard School of Public Health.

Dr. Wachterman conducts health services research focused on improving the quality of care for seriously-ill older adults with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). As a 2014 NPCRC Career Development Award grantee, she examined trajectories of patient-centered outcomes (cognitive and functional status and pain) for older adults on dialysis and explore decision-making about dialysis initiation from the perspectives of older adults with ESRD, their family caregivers, and their providers. The ultimate goal is to improve communication and patient-centered decision-making about dialysis initiation for this seriously-ill patient population. She also has a strong interest in end-of-life care.

VA Boston Healthcare System

VA Research

Title
An Exploration of Treatment decision-Making Among Older Veterans with Advanced Kidney Disease (PI)

Yr	Title	Project-Sub Proj	Pubs

Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.

iCite Analysis Copy PMIDs To Clipboard

Carpenter JG, Kinder D, Smith D, Ersek M, Wachterman M, Thorpe J, Sullivan DR, Bailey J, Shreve S, Kutney-Lee A. Nursing Home Star Ratings and End-Of-Life Care Quality: Lessons Learned From the Veterans Health Administration. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2024 Sep; 25(9):105121. PMID: 38950589

Sullivan DR, Jones KF, Wachterman MW, Griffin HL, Kinder D, Smith D, Thorpe J, Feder SL, Ersek M, Kutney-Lee A. Opportunities to Improve End-of-Life Care Quality among Patients with Short Terminal Admissions. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2024 Oct; 68(4):329-339. PMID: 38810950

Wachterman MW, Sinha A, Leveille T, Waikar SS, Widera E, Romero K, Bokhour B. Nephrologists' perspectives and experiences with hospice among older adults with end-stage kidney disease. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2024 Jul; 72(7):2060-2069.View Related Profiles.

Wachterman, Melissa
Waikar, Sushrut

PMID: 38777614; PMCID: PMC11226377; DOI: 10.1111/jgs.18936;

Kurniawan HI, Sciacca KR, Wachterman MW, Gelfand SL. Clinical practice review: outpatient palliative care for the geriatric chronic kidney disease population. Ann Palliat Med. 2024 Jul; 13(4):938-947. PMID: 38735689

Wachterman MW, Smith D, Carpenter JG, Griffin HL, Thorpe J, Feder SL, Hoelter J, Ersek M, Shreve S, Kutney-Lee A. A comparison of end-of-life care quality for Veterans receiving hospice in VA nursing homes and community nursing homes. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2024 Jan; 72(1):59-68. PMID: 37947240; PMCID: PMC10842969; DOI: 10.1111/jgs.18606;

Pless Kaiser A, Moye J, Baird L, Sager Z, Wachterman M. Factors Associated With Distress Related to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder at the End of Life Among U.S. Veterans. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2023 Aug; 66(2):102-115.View Related Profiles.

Pless Kaiser, Anica
Moye, Jennifer
Baird, Lola
Wachterman, Melissa

PMID: 37084828; PMCID: PMC10524384; DOI: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2023.04.011;

Romero K, Widera E, Wachterman MW. Breaking the Link Between Enrollment in Hospice and Discontinuation of Dialysis. JAMA Intern Med. 2023 Mar 01; 183(3):177-178. PMID: 36716017; PMCID: PMC10149342; DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2022.6390;

Wachterman MW, Corneau EE, O'Hare AM, Keating NL, Mor V. Association of Hospice Payer With Concurrent Receipt of Hospice and Dialysis Among US Veterans With End-stage Kidney Disease: A Retrospective Analysis of a National Cohort. JAMA Health Forum. 2022 Oct 07; 3(10):e223708. PMID: 36269338; PMCID: PMC9587478; DOI: 10.1001/jamahealthforum.2022.3708;

Butler CR, Wachterman MW, O'Hare AM. Concurrent Hospice and Dialysis: Proof of Concept. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2022 Oct; 33(10):1808-1810. PMID: 36096635; PMCID: PMC9528330; DOI: 10.1681/ASN.2022080919;

Kinder D, Thorpe J, Smith D, Wachterman M, Kutney-Lee A. Psychometric Evaluation of the Veterans Affairs Bereaved Family Survey in Community Nursing Homes. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2022 Dec; 64(6):e317-e322. PMID: 36103938

Showing 10 of 42 results. Show More

Kalver E, Branch-Elliman W, Stolzmann K, Wachterman M, Shin MH, Schweizer ML, Mull HJ. Prevalence of One-Year Mortality after Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator Placement: An Opportunity for Palliative Care? J Palliat Med. 2023 Feb; 26(2):175-181.View Related Profiles.

Mull, Hillary
Wachterman, Melissa
Branch-Elliman, Westyn

PMID: 36067080; PMCID: PMC9894597; DOI: 10.1089/jpm.2022.0205;

Wachterman MW, Luth EA, Semco RS, Weissman JS. Where Americans Die - Is There Really "No Place Like Home"? N Engl J Med. 2022 Mar 17; 386(11):1008-1010. PMID: 35275480; PMCID: PMC9255424; DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp2112297;

Jones KF, Laury E, Sanders J, Starr LT, Rosa WE, Booker SQ, Wachterman M, Jones CA, Hickman S, Merlin JS, Meghani SH. Author Response to Reader's Comments to Fitzgerald Jones et al., Top Ten Tips Palliative Care Clinicians Should Know About Delivering Antiracist Care to Black Americans (DOI: 10.1089/jpm.2021.0502). J Palliat Med. 2022 03; 25(3):347-348. PMID: 35230905; PMCID: PMC9022451; DOI: 10.1089/jpm.2021.0673;

Merlin JS, Wachterman MW, Becker WC, Bohnert ASB. Serious Illness and Limitations of Death Certificate-Based Data: Urgent Lessons From the Opioid Epidemic. Am J Public Health. 2022 02; 112(S1):S36-S38. PMID: 35143261; PMCID: PMC8842219; DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2021.306409;

Jones KF, Laury E, Sanders JJ, Starr LT, Rosa WE, Booker SQ, Wachterman M, Jones CA, Hickman S, Merlin JS, Meghani SH. Top Ten Tips Palliative Care Clinicians Should Know About Delivering Antiracist Care to Black Americans. J Palliat Med. 2022 03; 25(3):479-487. PMID: 34788577; PMCID: PMC9022452; DOI: 10.1089/jpm.2021.0502;

Palmer JA, Sullivan JL, Wachterman MW, Sager ZS, Wiener RS. "If You Built It, They Could Come": Opportunities to Expand Access to Palliative Care. J Palliat Med. 2022 02; 25(2):200-204.View Related Profiles.

Palmer, Jennifer
Wachterman, Melissa
Wiener, Renda

PMID: 34861114

Kinder D, Smith D, Ersek M, Wachterman M, Thorpe J, Davis D, Kutney-Lee A. Family reports of end-of-life care among veterans in home-based primary care: The role of hospice. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2022 01; 70(1):243-250. PMID: 34585735

Wachterman MW, Sommers BD. Dying Poor in the US-Disparities in End-of-Life Care. JAMA. 2021 Feb 02; 325(5):423-424. PMID: 33528526

Wachterman MW, Sommers BD. Dying Poor in the US-Disparities in End-of-Life Care. JAMA Health Forum. 2020 Dec; 1(12). PMID: 35548661; PMCID: PMC9090207; DOI: 10.1001/jamahealthforum.2020.1533;

O'Hare AM, Butler CR, Taylor JS, Wong SPY, Vig EK, Laundry RS, Wachterman MW, Hebert PL, Liu CF, Rios-Burrows N, Richards CA. Thematic Analysis of Hospice Mentions in the Health Records of Veterans with Advanced Kidney Disease. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2020 11; 31(11):2667-2677. PMID: 32764141; PMCID: PMC7608965; DOI: 10.1681/ASN.2020040473;

Burns RB, Waikar SS, Wachterman MW, Kanjee Z. Management Options for an Older Adult With Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease and Dementia: Grand Rounds Discussion From Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Ann Intern Med. 2020 08 04; 173(3):217-225.View Related Profiles.

Wachterman, Melissa
Waikar, Sushrut

PMID: 32745449

Rolnick JA, Ersek M, Wachterman MW, Halpern SD. The Quality of End-of-Life Care among ICU versus Ward Decedents. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2020 04 01; 201(7):832-839. PMID: 31940238; PMCID: PMC7124720; DOI: 10.1164/rccm.201907-1423OC;

Yefimova M, Aslakson RA, Yang L, Garcia A, Boothroyd D, Gale RC, Giannitrapani K, Morris AM, Johanning JM, Shreve S, Wachterman MW, Lorenz KA. Palliative Care and End-of-Life Outcomes Following High-risk Surgery. JAMA Surg. 2020 02 01; 155(2):138-146. PMID: 31895424; PMCID: PMC6990868; DOI: 10.1001/jamasurg.2019.5083;

Carpenter JG, Ersek M, Nelson F, Kinder D, Wachterman M, Smith D, Murray A, Garrido MM. A National Study of End-of-Life Care among Older Veterans with Hearing and Vision Loss. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2020 04; 68(4):817-825.View Related Profiles.

Garrido, Melissa
Wachterman, Melissa

PMID: 31886557

Wachterman MW, Leveille T, Keating NL, Simon SR, Waikar SS, Bokhour B. Nephrologists' emotional burden regarding decision-making about dialysis initiation in older adults: a qualitative study. BMC Nephrol. 2019 10 24; 20(1):385.View Related Profiles.

Bokhour, Barbara
Wachterman, Melissa
Simon, Steven R.
Waikar, Sushrut

PMID: 31651262; PMCID: PMC6814056; DOI: 10.1186/s12882-019-1565-x;

Richards CA, Hebert PL, Liu CF, Ersek M, Wachterman MW, Taylor LL, Reinke LF, O'Hare AM. Association of Family Ratings of Quality of End-of-Life Care With Stopping Dialysis Treatment and Receipt of Hospice Services. JAMA Netw Open. 2019 10 02; 2(10):e1913115. PMID: 31603487; PMCID: PMC6804019; DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.13115;

Richards CA, Liu CF, Hebert PL, Ersek M, Wachterman MW, Reinke LF, Taylor LL, O'Hare AM. Family Perceptions of Quality of End-of-Life Care for Veterans with Advanced CKD. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. 2019 09 06; 14(9):1324-1335. PMID: 31466952; PMCID: PMC6730503; DOI: 10.2215/CJN.01560219;

Wachterman MW, O'Hare AM, Rahman OK, Lorenz KA, Marcantonio ER, Alicante GK, Kelley AS. One-Year Mortality After Dialysis Initiation Among Older Adults. JAMA Intern Med. 2019 07 01; 179(7):987-990. PMID: 31009039; PMCID: PMC6583827; DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2019.0125;

O'Hare AM, Hailpern SM, Wachterman M, Kreuter W, Katz R, Hall YN, Montez-Rath M, Tamura MK, Daratha KB. Hospice Use And End-Of-Life Spending Trajectories In Medicare Beneficiaries On Hemodialysis. Health Aff (Millwood). 2018 06; 37(6):980-987. PMID: 29863925

Wachterman MW, Hailpern SM, Keating NL, Kurella Tamura M, O'Hare AM. Association Between Hospice Length of Stay, Health Care Utilization, and Medicare Costs at the End of Life Among Patients Who Received Maintenance Hemodialysis. JAMA Intern Med. 2018 06 01; 178(6):792-799. PMID: 29710217; PMCID: PMC5988968; DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2018.0256;

Wachterman MW, Lipsitz SR, Lorenz KA, Marcantonio ER, Li Z, Keating NL. End-of-Life Experience of Older Adults Dying of End-Stage Renal Disease: A Comparison With Cancer. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2017 Dec; 54(6):789-797. PMID: 28843455; PMCID: PMC5786651; DOI: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2017.08.013;

Wachterman MW, Pilver C, Smith D, Ersek M, Lipsitz SR, Keating NL. Quality of End-of-Life Care Provided to Patients With Different Serious Illnesses. JAMA Intern Med. 2016 Aug 01; 176(8):1095-102. PMID: 27367547; PMCID: PMC5470549; DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.1200;

Wachterman MW, McCarthy EP, Marcantonio ER, Ersek M. Mistrust, misperceptions, and miscommunication: a qualitative study of preferences about kidney transplantation among African Americans. Transplant Proc. 2015 Mar; 47(2):240-6. PMID: 25769556; PMCID: PMC4365418; DOI: 10.1016/j.transproceed.2015.01.016;

Scheffey C, Kestenbaum MG, Wachterman MW, Connor SR, Fine PG, Davis MS, Muir JC. Clinic-based outpatient palliative care before hospice is associated with longer hospice length of service. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2014 Oct; 48(4):532-9. PMID: 24680626; DOI: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2013.10.017;

Wachterman MW, Lipsitz SR, Simon SR, Lorenz KA, Keating NL. Patterns of hospice care among military veterans and non-veterans. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2014 Jul; 48(1):36-44.View Related Profiles.

Wachterman, Melissa
Simon, Steven R.

PMID: 24275325; PMCID: PMC4031299; DOI: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2013.08.013;

Wachterman MW, Marcantonio ER, Davis RB, Cohen RA, Waikar SS, Phillips RS, McCarthy EP. Relationship between the prognostic expectations of seriously ill patients undergoing hemodialysis and their nephrologists. JAMA Intern Med. 2013 Jul 8; 173(13):1206-14.View Related Profiles.

Wachterman, Melissa
Waikar, Sushrut

PMID: 23712681; PMCID: PMC3982381; DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.6036;

Wachterman MW, Marcantonio ER, Davis RB, McCarthy EP. Association of hospice agency profit status with patient diagnosis, location of care, and length of stay. JAMA. 2011 Feb 2; 305(5):472-9. PMID: 21285424; PMCID: PMC3142476; DOI: 10.1001/jama.2011.70;

Wachterman M, Kiely DK, Mitchell SL. Reporting dementia on the death certificates of nursing home residents dying with end-stage dementia. JAMA. 2008 Dec 10; 300(22):2608-10. PMID: 19066379; PMCID: PMC2670182; DOI: 10.1001/jama.2008.768;

Wachterman MW, Sommers BD. The impact of gender and marital status on end-of-life care: evidence from the National Mortality Follow-Back Survey. J Palliat Med. 2006 Apr; 9(2):343-52. PMID: 16629564

Weissman JS, Wachterman M, Blumenthal D. When methods meet politics: how risk adjustment became part of Medicare managed care. J Health Polit Policy Law. 2005 Jun; 30(3):475-504. PMID: 16089113

Blumenthal D, Weissman JS, Wachterman M, Weil E, Stafford RS, Perrin JM, Ferris TG, Kuhlthau K, Kaushal R, Iezzoni LI. The who, what, and why of risk adjustment: a technology on the cusp of adoption. J Health Polit Policy Law. 2005 Jun; 30(3):453-73.View Related Profiles.

Kuhlthau, Karen
Wachterman, Melissa

PMID: 16089112

Weil E, Wachterman M, McCarthy EP, Davis RB, O'Day B, Iezzoni LI, Wee CC. Obesity among adults with disabling conditions. JAMA. 2002 Sep 11; 288(10):1265-8. PMID: 12215134

This graph shows the total number of publications by year, by first, middle/unknown, or last author.

Bar chart showing 42 publications over 17 distinct years, with a maximum of 7 publications in 2022

Bar chart showing 42 publications over 17 distinct years, with a maximum of 7 publications in 2022

Year	Publications
2002	1
2005	2
2006	1
2008	1
2011	1
2013	2
2014	1
2015	1
2016	1
2017	1
2018	2
2019	5
2020	5
2021	4
2022	7
2023	3
2024	4

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