Rance Hafner, MD ’92 (Family Medicine Residency ’96), Green Bay, WI, has received the Certificate of Added Qualifications (CAQ) in Hospice and Palliative Medicine from the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) in the certificate’s first offering.

Ten member boards of the American Board of Medical Specialties, including the American Board of Family Medicine and American Board of Internal Medicine, are co-sponsoring the certificate to recognize excellence among certified physicians who emphasize the care of seriously ill patients with life-limiting illnesses and dying patients in their practice. The field of hospice and palliative medicine is based on expanding scientific knowledge about symptom control when a cure is not possible and appropriate care during the last months of life.

Hafner is medical director at Unity, a not-for-profit leader in hospice and palliative care and the result of a partnership of Green Bay’s three not-for-profit hospitals – Bellin Health, St. Mary’s Hospital Medical Center and St. Vincent Hospital.  He has been employed by Unity since June 2001.

Unity provides community-based hospice and palliative care, residential hospice care and grief support in 12 counties in northeastern Wisconsin. It is a member of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO).

At Unity, Hafner oversees the end-of-life patient care programs, working with the nursing staff, social workers, chaplains, grief counselors and volunteers to deliver the highest quality care possible to patients and their families.

Hafner, a graduate of the UND Family Medicine Program in Grand Forks, is certified by the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) and American Board of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (ABHPM). He is a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), the American Medical Association (AMA), the Medical Society of Wisconsin and the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM); and served as the 2008 chair of the Wisconsin Cancer Council.

He and his wife, Kristin, and their children Samuel, Maxwell, Jacob and Kathryn, live in Green Bay.