What’s In Your Health Care Plan?

Health care planning is not one document nor one conversation, but a life process to promote everyday wellness, plan for the future, and get the best possible person-centered care all through your life. It’s both:

• Everyday Care Planning with your care providers to talk about your care goals and choices;
• Advance Care Planning to choose a health care agent, and write down your choices for care in Massachusetts planning documents.

 Together everyday and advance care planning create your health care plan (“plan”). Your plan is your personal roadmap for quality care that protects your right to get the care you want. It also supports your family in knowing how to care for you, and helps your care providers match care to your values and choices at every phase of health.

Honoring Choices has an easy to use 3-Step Planning Guide to help you or a loved one to make a plan, and get connected to person-centered care in your community. The 3 Step Guide helps you to:

• Step 1: EXPLORE. Consider information and reflect on your beliefs to make choices for care,
• Step 2: PLAN. Use Massachusetts planning documents to communicate your choices, and
• Step 3: CONNECT. Put your plan into action to promote wellness and honor your choices.

Read more about the 3-Step Planning Guide at www.honoringchoicesmass.com

Here are the 5 planning documents we use in Massachusetts. You can start to make a plan at 18 years old, and add and update the following documents as your health needs change:

• Massachusetts Health Care Proxy. A legal document in which you choose your health care agent to make health care decisions on your behalf,  if you are unable to make health care decisions yourself;
• Personal Directive or Living Will.  A personal document, not legally binding, to give your health care agent instructions and information on the kind of care you want;
• Massachusetts Durable Power of Attorney.  A legal document in which you choose a trusted person to make financial decisions on your behalf, if you are unable to make financial decisions yourself;
• Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (MOLST).  A medical order and form for adults with serious advancing illness to document their choices about life-sustaining treatments;
• Comfort Care/Do Not Resuscitate Order (CC/DNR). A medical order and form stating your choice to receive comfort care measures, but not to have medical personnel attempt to restart your heartbeat and breathing if your heartbeat and breathing stop.

A good place to start is by choosing a trusted person to be your health care agent. Honoring Choices has an easy to use Health Care Proxy Tool Kit.

To download a free kit, click here.