Why Advance Care Planning Drives Higher Value

Advocating for Advance Directives

Two-thirds of US adults do not have an Advance Care Plan (ACP). Even in patients 55 and older, a third report not having one (NIH,2018). In recognition of National Healthcare Decisions Day in April, join Ochsner Health Network in committing to talking with patients about their care wishes in the event they cannot make medical decisions for themselves.

Now live within Ochsner’s instance of Epic, MyDirectives for Clinicians is a digital advance care planning solution that will help physician and non-physician healthcare team members to efficiently engage patients in ACP conversations. The platform ensures critical healthcare preferences are documented, accessible real-time, and action able across multiple care settings.

The MyDirectives platform also sets up network physicians for greater success with CMS’ new quality metric – 4M Age Friendly Care Initiative. The initiative aims to improve care for older adults according to the 4Ms framework: what Matters, Medication, Mentation, and Mobility. Here are 19 evidence-based reasons why ACP drives higher value in healthcare delivery (ACP Decisions, 2025):

1. Enables healthcare professionals to conduct structured, meaningful conversations with patients about their wishes and preferences regarding treatment goals, preferences, and location of care¹
2. Promotes patient-centered care by focusing on the patients’ personal preferences about their medical care and treatments²
3. ^‍Helps ensure that patients receive care that is consistent with their preferences³
4. Raises the likelihood that healthcare providers and families understand and comply with a patient’s preferences for medical care when the patient lacks decision-making capacity^4,5
5. Increases the probability that patients with life-limiting illnesses can die in their preferred place, such as their home⁶
   
6. Allows healthcare professionals and caregivers to proactively arrange for patients near end of life to remain at home, in a nursing home, or in a hospice facility rather than going to a hospital^6,7
7. Reduces the decisional burden of families as to whether they are making decisions that are consistent with the preferences of a loved one³
8. Improves the bereavement experience of families by reducing stress, anxiety, and depression after a loved one’s death^8,9
9. Enhances families’ satisfaction with end-of-life care and understanding of what to expect during a loved one’s dying process^10,11
10. May reduce moral distress among critical care nurses¹²
11. Positively impacts quality of life and end-of-life care by preventing unwanted hospitalizations and increasing the utilization of palliative and hospice services^13,11
12. Diminishes the use of aggressive or intensive treatments at the end of life and reduces the number and/or length of hospital admissions^{8, 14, 11}
13. Decreases in-hospital and intensive care unit deaths¹³
14. Reduces the cost of end-of-life care without increasing mortality^15,11
15. Promotes higher completion rates of advance directives^5,10
16. Boosts the effectiveness of meeting patients’ end-of-life wishes over written documents alone¹³
17. Improves end-of-life care for individuals with dementia by allowing them to express their care preferences before cognitive function deteriorates to the point they are unable to make their own medical decisions¹⁶
18. Improves outcomes and patient experience while reducing health-related costs for high-risk, high-needs patients¹⁷
    
19. Improves population health as a result of increased goal-concordant care¹⁸