How to Make Your Wishes for End-of-Life Care Clear
New Concerns Arise About How Well Patients and Doctors Understand Advance Directives
By LAURA LANDRO
Nov. 30, 2014 11:27 p.m. ET
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As acceptance of end-of-life planning grows in the U.S., new concerns are emerging about how well patients and their doctors understand the forms they are signing about the care they want in their final days.
In September, the Institute of Medicine’s “Dying in America” report called for a national effort to improve medical and social services for end-of-life care, both to improve quality of life and to help reduce the outsize costs of unwanted care at the end of life.
Some health plans are reimbursing doctors who help with advance care planning, and the federal government is weighing doing the same for doctors who talk to Medicare patients about options. A growing number of states are starting programs known as Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment, or Polst, a form offered to patients who might die within a year so they can document their wishes in a medical record, signed by the doctor.
via How to Make Your Wishes for End-of-Life Care Clear – WSJ.