Please join us on Monday, June 18th when we will welcome Dr. John Ropp – Advanced Care Planning in South Carolina to our podium.
Dr. John C. Ropp III, MD, MBA, is Chairman of the South Carolina Medical Association. He is Board-certified in Family Medicine with a Certificate of added qualification in Hospice and Palliative Medicine and is a practicing physician with Palmetto Family Medicine and Senior Care in Hartsville, S.C. After graduating from The Citadel, Dr. Ropp attended the University of South Carolina School of Medicine and then completed his residency at McLeod Family Medicine in Florence, S.C.
Dr. Ropp is also Chairman of the South Carolina Care of the Seriously Ill (CSI) Coalition which aims to give an active voice to patients and their families through advance care planning and other initiatives. He first became involved in the areas of palliative and end-of-life care while serving on the SCMA’s Bioethics Committee. At the time, his own medical practice was transitioning away from hospital medicine, and the idea of having his patients’ wishes honored weighed heavily on him. “The evolution of the hospitalist and hospital-based medical practice model has been one of the two most pivotal changes in primary care, and communicating patient care plans remains a tremendous challenge,” he says. As a result of these changes in medical practice, Dr. Ropp focuses most of his consultant work in the area of Advance Care Planning (ACP) projects and is Medical Advisor of the new CSI ACP Initiative funded by the BCBS of SC Foundation. The aim of this initiative is to develop a comprehensive, statewide ACP processes that can be replicated across patient, client, and member settings.
Dr. Ropp married his Sumter High School sweetheart, Caroline, and they now have five children: Elizabeth, Johnny, David, Mary Grace, and Sarah Catherine.