A survey of Californians found that 70% of respondents would rather die at home than in a hospital or nursing home, yet claims data reveal that the majority of California deaths occur in an institutional setting. The survey results, published in The Final Chapter: Californians’ Attitudes and Experiences with Death and Dying, also show that a large majority of Californians (82%) say it is important to have end-of-life wishes in writing, but only 23% have done this for themselves. To address this disconnect, health care organizations are helping patients communicate what kind of care they want when facing a serious or fatal illness, and are supporting providers to deliver that care.

Partnership HealthPlan (PHP) of California has designed a program to increase members’ access to advance care planning services and palliative care. PHP’s approach to changing the culture of end-of-life care within the organization relies on the coordination of clinical staff from across different care settings, as well as the engagement of patients to advocate for the kind of care that they would like to receive.

Petaluma Health Center (PHC), a clinic in PHP’s network, organizes group visits for patients 55 years or older to educate members about the importance of advance directives and to guide them through the steps to document their desires. PHC has trained their staff about advance directives generally, and worked specifically with their family medicine staff to improve how they engage patients in end-of-life care conversations. As a result of these efforts, the percentage of adults 55 and older at PHC with advance directives has increased from 3% to 27% over the last year.

Learn more about these approaches to improving end-of-life care from the patient and provider experience. Hear from:

• Luke Entrup, MSW, MPH, director of wellness and innovation, PHC
• Robert Moore, MD, MPH, chief medical officer, PHP
• Danielle Oryn, DO, chief medical officer, PHC

A recording of the webinar and the presentation slides are available below.