The Other Talk: EHRs and Advance Medical Directives
Most of us who have adult children can remember that awkward talk we had about life’s origins. We thought, whew, that’s done. Alas, there’s yet another talk. This time it’s with those adult children and it’s about you.
This one’s covered in Tim Prosch’s and AARP’s book, The Other Talk. The talk, or more accurately the process is how you want to spend the rest of your life.
It’s about your money, where and how you’ll live and your medical preferences. It’s just as hard, if not harder, than the old talk because:
- It’s hard to admit that you won’t be around forever and your independence may start to ebb away.
- You don’t want to put your kids on the spot with difficult decisions.
- Your children may be parents coping with their own problems. You don’t want to add to their burdens.
- You’ve been a source of strength, often financial as well as emotional. That’s hard to give up.
Prosch and AARP want to make it easier on everyone to deal with these issues.
He covers many topics, but for those of us who live in the EHR world one is of significant importance: Medical directives.
Prosch explains directives and simply says you should give them to your doctor. Easier said, etc. Today, that means not only your PCP, but also making sure that hospitalists etc., know what you want. While the Meaningful Use program helps a bit. It’s still going to take some doing.
Medical Directives and EHRs
EHR MU1 recognizes directives’ importance requiring that they be accounted for:
More than 50% of all unique patients 65 years old or older admitted to the eligible hospital’s or CAH’s inpatient department have an indication of an advance directive status recorded.
This means that the EHR has to have the directives. However, MU 1 only goes halfway to what’s needed. It’s what the EHR does with directives that’s unsaid.
If the EHR treats a directive as a miscellaneous document, odds are it won’t be known, let alone followed when needed. To be used effectively, an EHR needs a specific place for directives and they should be readily available. For example, PracticeFusion recently added an advance directives function. That’s not always the case.
Googling for Directives
To see how about twenty popular EHRs treat directives, I did a Google site search, on the term directive. I got hits for a directives function only from four EHRs:
- Athenahealthcare
- Cerner
- Meditech
- PracticeFusion
All the others, Allscripts, Amazing Charts, eClinicalWorks, eMDs, McKesson, etc., were no shows. Some listed the MU1 requirement, but didn’t show any particular implementation.
Directives: More Honored in the Breech
This quick Google search shows that the EHR industry, with a few exceptions, doesn’t treat directives with the care they deserve. It should also serve as a personal warning.
If you already have directives or do have that talk with your family, you’ll need to give the directives to your PCP. However, you should also give your family copies and ask them to go over them with your caregivers.
Some day, EHRs may handle medical directives with care, but that day is still far off. Until then, a bit of old school is advisable.