Advanced Care Planning
Advance Care Planning is an opportunity for you to write down your wishes and choices about care decisions to share with your family, your friends and your healthcare providers.
Why is Advance Care Planning Important?
- It allows you to make your wishes known, reduces uncertainty for loved ones and encourages you to consider what quality of life means to you.
- It empowers you to have more control of your healthcare, optimizes procedures and prevents unwanted treatments.
- It provides education to you and your family about diagnosis, disease progression, treatment options and potential outcomes.
- It promotes trust between you and your provider(s).
- It allows you to inform and support key people, such as your elected Durable Power of Attorney (DPOA) or Healthcare Surrogate (HCS), to advocate on your behalf to honor your wishes. You can designate these people and document your instructions by completing an Advance Directive or a Providers Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST).
Which Document Is Right for You?
Advance Directive
A document naming a Durable Power of Attorney (DPOA), someone to make decisions on your behalf based on select treatment options that reflect your care wishes if you are unable to speak for yourself. This document is dated, signed, witnessed and notarized.
Living Will
A document reflecting your care wishes if you are unable to make your own medical decisions, without naming a Durable Power of Attorney (DPOA).
Declaration or Statement to the Physician
A stand-alone document that reflects your care wishes if you are unable to make your own decisions.
POLST (Providers Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment)
Usually used outside of the hospital setting to provide direction to Emergency Medical Responders and Emergency Room staff to dictate your wishes should 911 be activated. You can also elect a Health Care Surrogate versus a DPOA.
How Do You Start?
Start the conversation with your loved ones, your spouse, significant other, children, parents and friends. Making your wishes known alleviates the burden of loved ones trying to make decisions for you during an emotional time and empowers them to honor your wishes.
Make an appointment with your healthcare provider to review your thoughts and wishes. Allow for feedback which could affect your decisions, but remember, this is about YOU, no one else. Explore and complete documents that best express your situation, your decisions and what you feel works best for you.
Enroll in a Prominence Health Plan Medicare Advantage plan.
The comprehensive provider network offers members excellent access to quality medical services.
