The importance of advance care planning talks when managing a serious illness

Support during a serious illness can make all the difference

If you or a loved one lives with a serious medical condition, you know every day can include symptom management, complex medical decisions, and often, concerns about the future. Carelon’s Palliative Care team helps you create advance care planning (ACP) to guide your healthcare decisions now — and make plans that reflect your care wishes for the days ahead.

Our physician-led, interdisciplinary palliative care team includes an advanced practice provider (who is a nurse practitioner or physician assistant), nurse, and social worker. We work together to support you with daily medical, emotional, and social needs.

Carelon’s Palliative Care program complements your doctor’s care; we don’t replace it. Think of it as an extra layer of support when it’s needed most, to help you feel less overwhelmed. You can receive palliative care alongside treatment for an illness; to help ease your day-to-day challenges as well as help you navigate the healthcare system.
 

Personalized care from an experienced team of experts

Your APP visits you at your home and knows your health needs and care preferences, as well as your family, pets, and what makes your life have quality and meaning.

“Carelon Palliative Care is unique in that we’re strictly home-based palliative care,” says Dr. William Logan, Staff Vice President and Medical Director for Palliative Care, Carelon. “There are so many other aspects of that person’s life you can touch when you provide care in the home. Having our providers in home with patients and caregivers is a very unique advantage we have. We can see a lot more and provide better support for the serious illness journey.”
 

Benefits of Carelon’s advance care planning

Your healthcare needs and goals are unique. Advance care planning (ACP) allows you to have important personal discussions about palliative and hospice care, ensuring your wishes are honored if you can’t express them yourself.

Carelon’s physician-led care team can help you make informed healthcare choices. The interdisciplinary team assists with creating advance directives (legal documents). These may include a living will for future healthcare choices and a durable power of attorney (healthcare proxy) that names someone to make decisions for you if you can’t.

With Carelon and ACP, you and your loved ones benefit from:

• Decision guidance: We help you make important decisions based on your preferences.
• Symptom management: We work with your healthcare team to help improve your health and quality of life.
• Patient-centered care: Your doctors and care team tailor your treatment to how and where you want to receive care.
• Peace of mind: Documenting your wishes eases future stress for you and your loved ones, helping them avoid tough decisions about your care.
• Timely hospice transitions: We ensure easy transitions to hospice care, honoring your wishes.
   

Who should consider advance care planning?

Everyone should discuss their end-of-life wishes with their healthcare providers and loved ones. Dr. Logan suggests having these talks when you’re healthy. They’re important for everyone, but they become especially crucial if you have chronic conditions, a family history of serious illness, a changing health status, or are near the end of life.

“These discussions and documents take the guesswork out of decision making as things evolve. Proactive decisions are often far wiser than those made under duress." –Dr. William Logan, Staff Vice President and Medical Director for Carelon
 

When hospice care is the best option

Carelon’s Palliative Care team helps you manage your condition, and as you improve, we’ll guide your care back to your primary doctors. Our team also helps when aggressive curative treatment is no longer beneficial or desired, assisting with important decisions and hospice care, which focuses on comfort and quality of life. Our team’s hospice experts can explain the process and answer questions for you and your loved ones.

Dr. Logan calls hospice a “huge wraparound program of care focusing on comfort” for patients and their families. “It’s incredibly common for people to wait until the last moment prior to death to enroll in hospice,” says Dr. Logan. “Our Palliative Care doctors, nurse practitioners, and other care team members are experts at identifying when members are eligible for hospice care,” says Dr. Logan, “and in enrolling them at just the right time.”

He notes that Carelon’s median hospice stay is about 39 days, compared to the national average of 18 days. An earlier transition to hospice means patients can have:

• Better care: There is the potential for reducing unnecessary, costly interventions.
• Less stress: Advance directives let families enjoy more time together.
• Lower costs: Reduces hospital stays and procedures.
• Clearer communication: Ensures care aligns with your needs.
• Better outcomes: Patients can choose where they pass, like at home.

With your doctor’s approval, you can choose hospice care. We’re not a hospice provider, but we can help find top care nearby and usually transition you within 24 hours.