Advance Care Planning Resources

National Healthcare Decisions Day is April 16 each year

National Healthcare Decisions Day exists to inspire, educate and empower the public and providers about the importance of advance care planning. Mark April 16 on your calendar as a day to share your advance care planning with your family and loved ones! (Thank you to NHDD for this list of resources.)

Conversations starters

Death by Design

Kimberly Paul, from Death by Design, asks you to reclaim your end of life through planning and to agree:

1. We are all going to face the end of life someday.
2. If we plan and document, we could have an impact on how and where we can die.

“If you agree, what are you waiting for?” Watch her 13-minute TedTalk.

The Conversation Project

The Conversation Project is dedicated to helping people talk about their wishes for end-of-life care. They are focused on generating conversations about healthcare wishes with family members and ensuring individuals have thought through what they want at the end of life. The Conversation Project has created a brochure that you can download, How to Choose a Health Care Proxy & How to Be a Health Care Proxy.

Go Wish Cards

Go Wish Game is a card game by Coda Alliance that is a simple way to think and talk about what's important to individuals and their family members if someone becomes seriously ill.

PREPARE

PREPARE, also referred to as PREPARE For Your Care, is an interactive website serving as a resource for families navigating medical decision making.

Additional Resources

AARP

AARP features an End-of-Life Planning resource center with perspectives on starting advance care planning discussions, facilitating discussions with adult children about end of life planning, frequently asked questions and considerations for siblings planning care for parents.

American Hospital Association

The American Hospital Association has advance care planning resources from some states hospital associations and a Put It In Writing brochure for patients and families to document their wishes.

American Bar Association Advance Care Planning Toolkit

The American Bar Association's  Advance Care Planning Toolkit includes 10 Tools:

1. How to Select Your Health Care Agent or Proxy
2. How Do You Weigh Odds of Survival?
3. Personal Priorities and Spiritual Values Important to Your Medical Decisions
4. After Death Decisions to Think About Now
5. Conversation Scripts: Getting Past the Resistance
6. The Proxy Quiz for Family & Physician
7. What to Do After Signing Your Health Care Advance Directive
8. Guide for Health Care Proxies
9. Resources: Advance Planning for Health Care

Also see the ABA's 10 Legal Myths about Advance Medical Directives

American Society of Clinical Oncology & Cancer.net

The American Society of Clinical Oncology provides Resources for Patients Resources as well as a patient informational website, Cancer.net, which provides advanced care planning resources and a comprehensive Advance Care Planning Workbook.

Cake

Cake is an interactive end-of-life planning website that helps people plan ahead for healthcare, legal, funeral, and legacy decisions. A checklist guides users to create and/or upload important documents (like POLST) that express their final wishes. Users can share secure access to their end-of-life plan with anyone who has an email address. Cake’s mission is to empower everyone to receive end-of-life care that aligns with their values and wishes. Create a free Cake plan. Cake also offers a free, comprehensive resource where visitors can download advance directives by US state.

CaringInfo

CaringInfo, a program of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, offers free, state-specific advance directives for all 50 states and DC that meet the legal requirements for each state.  Download individual copies for free or call (800) 658-8898 to have a copy mailed to you. Also access resources for advance care planning, care giving, grief, hospice, pain and palliative care.

Center for Practical Bioethics

Caring Conversations, from the Center for Practical Bioethics, is a workbook to help individuals and families communicate with each other about their healthcare preferences and contains advance directive documents. These forms are valid in every state when notarized and signed by two witnesses. Sign up for free resources, or order online, or call(816) 221-1100.

Hello (formerly My Gift of Grace)

Hello is a conversation game for living and dying well. Designed as a fun, engaging way to start conversations with any group, the game is a tool suitable for players at all life stages

LastingMatters

LastingMatters helps any adult, at any age, compile, document and clearly communicate  important information, intentions and wishes.  The LastingMatters Organizer is a practical and comprehensive planning guide helping to reduce the costs, time, stress and family pressures associated with the death of a loved one.

National Association of Social Workers

The National Association of Social Workers Help Starts Here website features an Advance Care Planning resource center.

Pallimed: Frequently Asked Questions about Health Care Power of Attorney

Written by Lizzy Miles (@LizzyMiles_MSW), in her own words, Sometimes when we encourage patients to complete a Health Care Power of Attorney (HCPOA), the patient declines the offer based on mistaken assumptions they have about the document. We never want to push a patient into doing something they don't want to do, however, sometimes their resistance is based on a misunderstanding. In an attempt to help address mistaken beliefs and/or concerns, I created a Frequently Asked Questions document for our patients. This also can be used for staff as talking points for the discussion. It's well written, in plain patient-friendly language. Read the HCPOA FAQs.