Center to Advance Palliative Care

"POLST" stands for Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment. Unlike an advanced directive it is an actual M.D./D.O. order that, with the entire medical community approval, follows the patient between different sites and clearly defines their desire re: CPR and other interventions. This is permitted by HIPAA and is really intended for patients more toward the end of life such as an estimated one year of life expectancy. Currently, California has an assembly bill in process to establish it state wide while selected geographic areas have already incorporated it into their systems (after meetings between SNF's, hospitals, assisted living sites, EMS have agreed to its inception.) I hope to do that in my county but I am waiting on the legislation. Oregon, as usual, was the lead on this. The California Coalition for Compassionate Care is spearheading this in our state. Keeta Scholl is the administrative assistant at CCCC, krscholl@finalchoices.org. But please try this site first: www.finalchoices.org/ccccchcf_polst_form.htm. I hope that works and the CCCC doesn't mind the advertisement. I am really looking forward to widespread use in our county and the state of California.