July 2, 2014 – Advance Directives Incentive

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Anchor lead:  Should we pay people to create advance directives? Elizabeth Tracey reports

Federal legislators are considering a proposal to pay for a consultation between healthcare providers and Medicare beneficiaries on the creation of advance directives, with one Senator putting forward the idea that beneficiaries themselves should receive compensation for doing so.  Patricia Davidson, dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, says such a strategy may actually be helpful.

Davidson: There’s a substantial body of research to show that even when people have prepared advance directives healthcare professionals don’t observe them.  So I really commend the senator in looking at incentivizing, because maybe it’s going to force people, or reward people, to have that critical conversation. But to really truly enact the motivation of advance care planning, we have to seriously look at the healthcare system to be much more responsive to addressing patients’ wishes.   :27

Davidson says everyone, regardless of age, should create advance directives and identify a healthcare proxy.  At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.