by Richard RogoskiAdvance directives interface with EMRs
Making end-of-life wishes known has traditionally required a living will or other legal document–usually on paper. Now, for the first time, advance directives, living wills and other end-of-life documentation are being integrated straight into an electronic medical record (EMR).
Minneapolis-based Luminat announced this week a developmental partnership with UMass Memorial Health Care to fully integrate a person's end-of-life directives into their EMR. The initiative will give healthcare providers the ability to understand and implement a person's final wishes while improving care and reducing end-of-life costs.
By enabling physicians to document end-of-life wishes through a cloud-based platform that automatically feeds data into the EMR, all members of the healthcare team will be able to follow directives such as palliative care preferences or religious beliefs while also being able to help family members understand and accept these final wishes.
"Luminat’s advance care planning platform integrated with UMass Memorial’s electronic medical records is a first in the industry," said Tom Valdivia, MD, MS, Luminat's CEO. "Up to this point, patients completed the advance care directive on paper and submitted it to their physician to be filed away. As a result, the instructions weren’t accessible by all providers and were left open to interpretation from doctor to doctor."
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