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Increasing Advance Care Planning In The Primary Care Setting, Nicole Marie Coffey

Doctoral Dissertations and Scholarly Projects

Evidence shows the many benefits of advance care planning (ACP) discussions, including; giving patients peace of mind, decreasing healthcare costs, increasing quality of care, and decreasing distress at the end of life. Due to the many proven benefits of ACP, the United States Department of Health and Human Services as well as many leading national health organizations are promoting ACP, even tying it to reimbursement. The best setting and time to initiate ACP is in the primary care setting as early as possible, before patients have any cognitive decline. In this context, patients have an established relationship with their provider, …