Advance Directives & Advance Care Planning
We most recently offered this webinar on April 10, 2024.
The goal of this webinar was to educate healthcare professionals about advance directives and advance care planning, including the types and purposes of legal documents that govern patients’ decisions and preferences.
The webinar provided resources and guidance on effective conversations with patients and families about their goals, wishes, and values for end-of-life care.
What Attendees Learned at This Webinar
- Many people near the end of life are physically or cognitively unable to make decisions about their care. Advance care planning (ACP) and advance directives (AD) allow patients to make their preferences known early, while they are able to communicate. ACP ensures patients can stay out of the hospital for end-of-life care that aligns with their goals, wishes, and values.
- ACP is appropriate at any age or stage of life.Physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners are encouraged to initiate conversations with patients who face the challenges of serious illness.
- Advance directives are legal documents that outline what actions should or should not be taken if a patient is no longer able to communicate or make decisions about their care: a living will, Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care, and Physician/Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment.
- Physicians can facilitate effective advance care planning conversations with patients using the SPIKES protocol: setting, perception, invitation, knowledge, and summation.
- Physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners can bill Medicare for the time they spend in face-to-face discussions about advance care planning and end-of-life care decisions with their patients or their patients' beneficiaries.