Melissa A. Bender, MD, FAAHPM; Kuang-Ning Huang, MD; Jaqueline Raetz, MD
Corresponding Author: Melissa A. Bender, MD, FAAHPM; University of Washington School of Medicine. Email: benderma@uw.edu
Section: Commentary
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Background: Advance care planning (ACP) is especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic. Previously identified barriers to ACP include lack of time during patient visits, billing, clinician and patient discomfort and lack of resources, and difficulties with documenting and accessing ACP documents. Purpose: Here we describe new challenges and new opportunities for ACP that have arisen from the COVID-19 pandemic, both due to the complexities of the illness and expedited changes in some of the stagnancies in the healthcare system. Discussion: The shared risk for COVID-19 that all people face brings urgency to ACP conversations that include eliciting patient preferences regarding care in the context of becoming critically ill with COVID-19. The pandemic has expedited changes that may facilitate ACP completion, including improved access and ability to bill for telehealth and telephone visits, and institutional policy changes to ACP form completion. However, research should assess acceptability and effectiveness of these strategies.