Medical/Physician’s Orders for Scope of Treatment
Kentucky and Indiana (Ohio Pending)
Did you know that in the last month of life over 50% of Americans go to the emergency room and that 50% to 75% of them get admitted? However, some people might not want to spend the last month of their lives in a hospital. Hospitalization is expensive and usually not considered an ideal place to die. You can avoid these unwanted end of life experiences through proper advance care planning.
The newest tool for advance care planning is medical or physician’s orders for scope of treatment. Nationally this new tool is being referred to as a POLST, which stands for Physician’s Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment. The National POLST Paradigm is an organization started in Oregon that helps push for the adoption of medical order documents across the country. Over 22 states have endorsed the POLST program, and 25 others are developing similar programs. Kentucky and Indiana are two such states. In Kentucky, these documents are known as MOST or Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment. In Indiana, they are known as POST or Physician Orders for Scope of Treatment. However, Ohio has not been successful in passing a POLST initiative. Ohio’s MOLST (Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) bill has passed the Ohio Senate and has been referred to committee in the House. These documents go by a few different names depending on the state, but generally, they do the same thing.