Skip to content

Advance Care Planning

Advance Care Planning

Advance Care Planning (ACP) is a process that enables individuals to make plans about their future health care. Advance care plans provide direction to healthcare professionals when a person is not in a position to make and/or communicate their own healthcare choices.

Advanced planning tools and documentation are underutilized and unknown. Very few healthcare providers (less than 15%) have end of life planning conversations with their patients and few people recognize the need for an advance directive as early as age 18.

UCOA Policy Position

Every Utahn has advance planning documentation available, completed, and health care agents appointed to ensure their choices, values, and care instructions are followed to achieve their desired outcomes and to eliminate unnecessary, costly, and unwanted care.

In this section you will find resources, research and educational, and policy information including ACP care planning document templates and guidance, tools for professionals to conduct important end of life conversations, local and national resources, and guides for ACP. Specific documents approved by the state of Utah for Advance Directives and POLST agreements (Provider Order of Life Sustaining Treatment) are provided below.

Core Documents

POLST Conversation Guide

Important guidance on conducting end of life conversations including the completion of the POLST form (Provider Order of Life Sustaining Treatment).

POLST COnversation Guide

 

Resources

Media

Advance Care Planning Overview

Advance Directives

POLST Agreements

Utah POLST with Dr. Camille Collett, MD, MPH

General Resources

Leaving Well

Information compiled from the Utah Hospital Association with the goal to improve the end-of-life care for residents in Utah. Resources include: Advanced Directives, Health Care Power-of-Attorney, POLST form, Hospice Care, and Palliative Care information

LEAD Guide (English)

LEAD Guide (Spanish)

A guide created by professors from the University of Utah for people with Dementia. The guide is a set of questions to help you prepare for future healthcare needs. It helps you review what you have done for planning for end-of-life care; share your values for how you see your foresee your end-of-life care, and share your preferences.

 

The Conversation Project

A public engagement initiative of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) to help everyone talk about their wishes for care through the end-of-life. They offer free tools, guidance and resources to begin talking with those who matter most about your and their wishes. You can download “The Conversation Starter Guide” for free on their website or buy paper copies.

Prepare for Care

A website that provides a step-by-step program to help you plan your Advance Directives with yourself or your family. The website can also teach you how to use a computer so you can navigate the website and use the 5 step program.

National POLST

This website provides detailed information and explanation about what the POLST form is and how it is part of your advanced care planning.

 

Research and Education

ACP Podcast

A link to the youtube playlist that holds the four podcasts episodes dedicated to talking about Advance Care Planning.

2020

2022

2023

The following groups convene once a year to talk about aging topics: Comagine Health, the Utah Commission on Aging and the Utah Geriatric Education Consortium. Watch playbacks of Advance Care planning meetings that talk about aging topics.

 

Public Policy

 

Last Updated: 9/4/24