Allina Launches Innovative Approach to Advanced Illness Care
Research shows that individuals living with an advanced illness such as cancer are more likely to receive the treatment they prefer when their treatment options are discussed with medical professionals.[i]
It also shows that advance care planning can improve caregiver quality of life, and reduce emotional trauma and depression in family members.[ii] [iii]
Unfortunately, these discussions often either do not occur or, if they do, are far too often marked by confusion and disconnection among patients, families and clinicians. Recording these conversations in advance directives has also proved problematic for a number of well documented reasons: most Americans have not completed an advance directive and, if they have, there is no guarantee that the directive will be accessible when clinicians need it. There are signs, however, that things might finally be changing.
In a recently published paper, C-TAC member Allina Hospitals and Clinics has demonstrated that Disease Specific Advance Care Planning (DS ACP) significantly increases the percentage of individuals who engage in the planning process. DS ACP has been shown to ensure that individuals receive the care they specify and better prepare health care proxies (families and caregivers) to make care decisions for their loved one.[iv]
While challenges remain Allina has demonstrated that an interprofessional model of advance care planning based on the Respecting Choices program — which has achieved considerable success in La Crosse, Wisconsin and elsewhere – can be a valuable service for improving care for individuals with advanced chronic conditions in a large health system.
C-TAC also congratulates Allina as it begins to rollout an innovative multi-year program, Late Life Support Care, designed to better coordinate support for patients in the later stages of illnesses such as cancer, heart failure, and Alzheimer’s. C-TAC looks forward to continuing to partner with Allina to improve advanced illness care and empower people to plan for their care.
You can find out more about the Late Life Support Care program here
For more information about advance care planning, here are a few good resources:
- Caring Connections offers information on advance care planning, palliative care, and financial planning among many other areas
- Engage with Grace’s mission is to help people and their families have the conversation about their care preferences in the event of serious illness. In this spirit they designed “The One Slide” that has 5 simple questions to get people talking. You can download the One Slide here
- National Health Care Decisions Day (NHDD) exists to inspire, educate and empower the public and providers about the importance of advance care planning. NHDD occurs annually on April 16, but the website contains a variety of resources regarding advance care planning that are available year-round.
[i] Mack, J. W., Weeks, J. C., Wright, A. A., Block, S. D., & Prigerson, H. G. (2010). End-of-Life Discussions, Goal Attainment, and Distress at the End of Life: Predictors and Outcomes of Receipt of Care Consistent With Preferences. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 28(7), 1203 -1208.
[ii] Detering, K.M., Hancock, A.D., Reade, M.C. and Slivester, W. “The impact of advance care planning on end of life care in elderly patients: randomized controlled trial.” BMJ 2010;340:c1345 doi:10.1136/bmj.c1345.
[iii] Wright, A.A. et al., “Associations Between End-of-Life Discussions, Patient Mental Health, Medical Care Near Death, and Caregiver Bereavement Adjustment. JAMA, 2008; 300: 1665-1666
[iv] Kirchhoff, K., Hammes, B., Kehl, K., Briggs, L., & Brown, R. (2010). Effect of a Disease-Specific Planning Intervention on Surrogate Understanding of Patient Goals for Future Medical Treatment. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 58(7), 1233.