Carl J. Christian Bergman, MD, CMD

Biography

Supporting quality of life for the most vulnerable adults

When older adults are discharged from the hospital after a major medical event, they often require 24/7 care in a separate skilled-nursing community. The transition from hospital to nursing home requires dedicated management and oversight to ensure the highest quality of care — and the best overall outcomes.

It’s at that transition point — post-acute and long-term care medicine — where geriatrician Dr. Carl J. “Christian” Bergman has dedicated his medical practice.

Dr. Bergman is a rehabilitation specialist and a long-term care primary care physician practicing in nursing homes. He cares for older patients who have been recently discharged from the hospital and are recovering from complex medical and surgical needs. As a PCP, most of his vulnerable patients require memory care as a result of living with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. “My focus is on maximizing their function and their quality of life,” he says.

It’s a challenging role where compassion and empathy are required to be a successful care provider. “I want patients to truly believe that we care and that we aim to maximize their quality of life through emphasis on advance care planning, mobility, and awareness of cognitive deficits,” says Dr. Bergman, a Certified Medical Director (CMD) through the American Board of Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine (ABPLM). Medical directors such as Dr. Bergman work with patients who often lack the ability to make decisions or understand their condition, and are living with long-standing mental and physical ailments.  

At VCU Health, Dr. Bergman is working to improve coordination of care along the care continuum for vulnerable adults by expanding VCU Health’s Nursing Facility Attending Service built as an inter-disciplinary team of nurses, social workers, advance practice practitioners (APPS) and physicians. Since 1996, VCU Health physicians and APPs have provided care to patients discharged from VCU to Richmond-area nursing homes. As an assistant professor in the VCU School of Medicine’s Division of Geriatric Medicine, he hopes to increase medical student, resident and other trainees’ exposure to geriatric and nursing home care, an area often underserved, with little emphasis in usual medical education.

Dr. Bergman’s work is guided by the 4 Ms Framework: What Matters, Mobility, Medications, and Mentation (mental activities). These “4Ms” provide health system leaders and geriatricians with direction for consistently delivering high-quality, patient-centered, and age-friendly care.

Research Interests: Models of care, care transitions in post-acute and long-term care medicine (PA/LTC); Nursing home policy reform; Nursing home staff education through innovation performance improvement projects with a focus on implementation science.