Health Care Planning Made Simple

Did you know there’s an easy way to take control of your health care choices and to ensure that the care you receive matches your values, priorities, and preferences?

Honoring Choices Massachusetts and its Community Partners (including Care Dimensions) want every adult to have equal access to health care planning tools that will help them make a personal care plan for good care today and over their lifetime. We offer a structured approach to health care planning that includes a step-by-step Health Care Planning Process with free, downloadable planning tools.

Our Health Care Planning Process makes it easy to have important planning conversations about the kind of care you want and to write your care choices in the accompanying planning documents (see graphic).

• On the left side of the graphic are the types of conversations that can help you think about your goals and care preferences and make care choices;
• On the right side of the graphic are the corresponding care planning documents to write down your care choices, and guides to help have conversations.

Getting started with health care planning

Begin a simple conversation: Name a trusted person as your Health Care Agent in a Massachusetts Health Care Proxy document. An Agent is your advocate who steps in to make health care decisions to get you the care you want if you are unable to make health care decisions for yourself. Your Agent has the legal power to speak to your doctors about your condition and treatment options, look at your medical records, and make health care decisions to get you the best possible care that aligns with your goals, values, and choices.

Be sure your Agent knows what's important to you and the kind of care you want if you get sick or are injured. Write your care choices in a Personal Directive (also known as a Living Will). 

Talk with your care providers about your goals and care preferences using the handy “Start a Simple Conversation to Stay Well” discussion guide. Ensure that your Health care Proxy and Personal Directive are inserted into your medical record.

Download the Getting Started Toolkit to guide you through these initial health care planning steps.

Next steps: Updating your care plan

Revisit your care plan as your health changes. Build on your conversations from simple to serious illness and update your plan accordingly. Use the Consumer Conversation Guide series in the Honoring Choices Next Steps Toolkit to talk with your clinicians about:

• Managing chronic illness
• Living well with serious illness
• Adding palliative care to your plan

The toolkit also includes information about updating your plan with documents such as a Medical Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (MOLST) form, Durable Power of Attorney, and a Comfort Care/Do Not Resuscitate order.

For a full list of health care planning toolkits, documents, and other resources for Massachusetts residents, visit the Honoring Choices Resources page. 

Celebrating National Healthcare Decisions Day all spring

Honoring Choices Massachusetts and its Partners are celebrating National Healthcare Decisions Day not only on the observed day, April 16, but also with events planned into June.

Care Dimensions, which has been a valued Honoring Choices Community Partner for 10 years, featured advance care planning and Honoring Choices on a recent “Timing is Everything” cable television program.

Visit our Healthcare Decisions Spring Celebration page for free health care planning tools and information about upcoming events.

About the author:
Ellen DiPaola, JD, is the President and CEO of Honoring Choices Massachusetts.