Advance Care Planning

What is Advanced Care Planning?

We believe that every patient’s choices for current and future healthcare should be respected and supported.

Our goal is to ensure every patient has access to programs, tools, and resources to make and document those decisions, and have them respected and supported by their care team and significant others. 

Advance care planning is an ongoing process of learning about the choices we each have in relation to our future medical care and how each of us would want to be treated if we were not able to speak for ourselves. Advance care planning discussions can be very different, depending on an individual’s current health.

For each of these individuals, the process is similar and includes:

• Learning about medical treatment options and the goals for those treatments
• Taking time to explore thoughts and feelings about lifesaving or life-sustaining treatments
• Choosing someone to represent their choices (healthcare advocate) if they are unable to speak for themselves
• Putting those wishes into writing

Your Advance Care Planning Team

Making important decisions now about your current and future healthcare can give both you and your family peace of mind knowing that your care team is aware of the treatment options you choose and that your loved ones will not have to make these important decisions for you. 

Your healthcare team may include nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, and physician assistants who provide patient education, treatment, and care in collaboration with physicians in the practice. They can be a valuable resource to you as you review your options and make decisions about advance care planning.