Three Pillars of good Health Care Planning

Make sure your agent knows what you want

Have you ever heard someone say, "just don't put me on life support" as if it was that simple? Unfortunately, it is not. There are so many different possible scenarios. Have you created a plan that effectively navigates that complexity and appoints someone to act for you when you cannot act for yourself? Have you documented and communicated your feelings about those preferences? Is that plan always available in case of emergencies?  We can help you provide a resounding “yes!” to these questions, starting today.

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Why Choose Our Team for Health Care Planning?

  • We know the questions to ask to help you understand your health care options and make the right decisions for you
  • Our process will take you well beyond the considerations most people face when health care planning
  • With our Membership Services, you will have immediate, reliable access to your health plan when needed no matter where you are
  • We help you navigate complex HIPAA laws to allow your trusted loved ones access to your critical health information

Health Care Planning

At the ElderCare Law Firm, we believe there are three pillars to good health care planning. These pillars are authority, instructions, and access.

Pillar I: Authority
In 2008, Utah adopted a new standard “Advance Health Care Directive.” Everyone should have this standard form as opposed to old or non-standard forms. The failure to have the proper form and format could cause legal issues at a time of crisis if health care providers become confused and turn to their legal department to interpret your documents.

An Advance Health Care Directive is used to appoint someone (your agent) to make decisions for you regarding your health care in the event that you are unable to do so yourself. This document also contains limited instructions regarding the care you should or should not receive when you can no longer give instructions for yourself. Many times this document is given to clients to fill out by hospitals, nursing homes, or other care personnel. We advise caution in filling out these documents without expert guidance, as the documents can be confusing and your documents could be used at some point to decide if you live or die.

Another critical element of authority in health care planning is granting certain trusted people in your life the ability to obtain confidential medical information about you. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) created protections for personal health information. Your Advance Health Care Directive can allow your agent to access your medical information, but if you want others to also have access you will need to execute a special HIPAA Release on their behalf.

Pillar II: Instructions
Many people underestimate the complexity of healthcare decision-making. We often hear clients summarize their desires by saying, “I don’t want to be put on machines.” However, it may not be that simple. There are so many different healthcare scenarios that you could encounter. Each situation has its own unique aspects and will require an analysis of what treatments are available, how costly they are, what pain or suffering may be involved, what is the probability of recovery, how complete will the recovery be, and how will remaining deficiencies affect your quality of life after recovery.

The person you choose as your health care agent needs guidance from you. Not giving that guidance can put your agent in a difficult position. Poor instructions may cause your agent to feel bad no matter what they choose to do. If they keep you alive, they feel like they are torturing you. If they take you off life support, they feel as if they are responsible for your death. Poor instructions will also increase the risk of family conflict and the chance that your agent will make a decision other than what you would have wanted.

At the ElderCare Law Firm, we provide clients with a tool that helps them get specific and practical about their health care preferences. This tool also helps our clients document their preferences, so that if they are incapacitated, their agent has something to guide them to the right result.

Pillar III: Access
You may have the best health care planning in the world, but if it is not available in a crisis, it fails. The problem is, once you have completed the first two pillars of good health care planning, there will be more pages than you will want to carry around in your purse or wallet. At the ElderCare Law Firm, we solve this problem by providing all clients who are members of our Legacy Membership Service a free annual subscription to Docubank, where their critical health care documents can be safely stored and accessed by agents and medical professionals.

The ElderCare Law Firm would love to help you with your health and estate planning-call us today to get started!

At The ElderCare Law Firm Inc., we focus on helping families enhance their lives today and secure their futures for tomorrow. We excel at guiding seniors, their children, and their families through the often confusing maze of financial and legal decisions they face.

We have carefully designed a special process to give you the best planning experience while making sure we cover all the issues that affect you and your family. Your involvement in that process will primarily consist of four meetings: Vision, Design, Delivery, and Funding Follow-Up.

Our mission at The ElderCare Law Firm is to take care of you as you go through the aging process. With our membership service, we stick with you over the longhaul to keep your planning up-to-date and provide you other essential benefits and services at a drastically reduced price.