From its start, the development of National POLST has been a voluntary, collaborative group process. Our policies, guidance and program recognition standards have all been created through group consensus and each state POLST Program chooses if they want to participate in with National POLST. We are grateful most states believe that, collectively, we can have a greater impact in eliciting, documenting and honoring patient treatment wishes if we build National POLST together.
A key goal of our 2016 strategic plan is to become more inclusive, giving a greater voice to all our states about our programmatic direction and implementation. Although each state has developed their POLST Program differently, each is committed to our shared mission and vision. National POLST is committed to recognizing and honoring the differences in our state POLST Programs while working together to best support patients and loved ones so that their treatment wishes can be honored — wherever they are during a medical crisis.