Lessons learned from New York's community approach to advance care planning and MOLAT

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Healthcare Management
• Bioethics

Background:

• Effective advance care planning (ACP) ensures patient preferences are honored, especially at the end of life.
• Shared, informed medical decision-making requires trained and comfortable healthcare providers.
• Existing healthcare systems often lack robust frameworks for end-of-life care discussions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review lessons learned from New York's community-based ACP initiative.
• To highlight the components and success of the Community Conversations on Compassionate Care (CCCC) and Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (MOLST) programs.
• To assess the value of a collaborative healthcare and community approach to improving end-of-life care.

Main Methods:

• Review of development and implementation processes for CCCC and MOLST programs.
• Analysis of program outcomes and lessons learned.
• Evaluation of community data supporting the initiative's effectiveness.

Main Results:

• The collaborative initiative successfully implemented CCCC and MOLST programs.
• Healthcare providers demonstrated increased comfort and proficiency in end-of-life discussions.
• Community data indicated positive outcomes and support for the ACP approach.

Conclusions:

• New York's community-based ACP model, integrating CCCC and MOLST, is a successful strategy for enhancing end-of-life care.
• The initiative underscores the importance of provider training and community engagement in ACP.
• The model's success suggests its value for national implementation to improve patient-centered end-of-life care.