Advance Care Planning Documentation in Electronic Health Records: Current Challenges and Recommendations for Change

Objective: To develop a set of clinically relevant recommendations to improve the state of advance care planning (ACP) documentation in the electronic health record (EHR). Background: Advance care planning (ACP) is a key process that supports goal-concordant care. For preferences to be honored, clinicians must be able to reliably record, find, and use ACP documentation. However, there are no standards to guide ACP documentation in the electronic health record (EHR). Methods: We interviewed 21 key informants to understand the strengths and weaknesses of EHR documentation systems for ACP and identify best practices. We analyzed these interviews using a qualitative content analysis approach and subsequently developed a preliminary set of recommendations. These recommendations were vetted and refined in a second round of input from a national panel of content experts. Results: Informants identified six themes regarding current inadequacies in documentation and accessibility of ACP information and opportunities for improvement. Discussion: We offer a set of concise, clinically relevant recommendations, informed by expert opinion, to improve the state of ACP documentation in the EHR.