Abstract

Advance care planning in its modern guise started nearly a half-century ago in the US with Living Wills, graduated to include durable powers of attorney, and various special formats including POLST. These have been influential in shaping public opinion, but they still are not widely used and have only modest effects upon the course of care. This panel presentation will outline some current policy options and consider their merits: required planning for providers, paying for advance care planning, putting care planning or advance care planning into meaningful use incentives, measuring advance care planning quality and reporting publicly, and nesting advance care planning into targeted requirements for care planning generally. The presentation will close with a justification of prioritizing the goal of accomplishing at least the requirement of care planning for a population of persons known to be facing serious or complex illness.