We now have Advance Directives available in our EHR. Please let us know if you would like them enabled for your practice.
Every patient should have an Advance Directive on file. This is a billable code that pays about $80. This service can be performed by a physician or another qualified health professional.
There are two types of Advance Directives:
- Instruction Directives, where a patient can state they want life-sustaining treatment withheld or withdrawn in any of the following situations: 1) they are permanently unconscious, 2) they are in a terminal condition, 3) the life-sustaining treatment would likely only prolong an imminent death, 4) the life-sustaining treatment would likely be ineffective or 5) they have a serious irreversible condition and the life-sustaining treatment would likely be more harmful than beneficial.
- Proxy Directives, where they give someone else the right to make medical decisions for them.
A patient can fill out one or both of these. They do not need to do both.
To help a patient complete their advanced directive, you must:
- Have a conversation with them about their mortality
- Have two witnesses cosign the advanced directive
We would love to hear your input on how you approach these conversations with your patients. We are considering adding additional features to our advance directives and are eager to work with you on building these out.