MyDirectives accredited by the State of Maryland
As part of our work to promote healthy aging, the Horizon Foundation has advocated for easier ways for Marylanders to document their future health care wishes. Recently, the Maryland Health Care Commission approved MyDirectives, an online advance medical directive platform, as an approved state vendor of electronic advance directives, bringing the process into the 21st century. With this change, residents can now name their health care agent by completing an advance directive online – making these wishes immediately accessible to hospitals and health care providers. In Howard County, the Horizon Foundation’s Speak(easy) Howard campaign makes this simple to do.
An advance directive is a way to outline your wishes for the kinds of treatment you want in a medical emergency or at the end of life and appoints someone to make health care decisions for you when you are unable to do so for yourself. Nationally and here in Howard County, only about one out of three people complete an advance directive.
With MyDirectives, which operates the Speak(easy) Howard platform for naming a health care agent, electronic advance directives are easier than ever. An electronic advance directive provides all the benefits of a paper-based advance directive, plus the ability to create and share online. The online platform of MyDirectives revolutionizes access to advance directives and eliminates the need to carry paper documents with you to the hospital or other health facility.
Documents created using MyDirectives are available to all major hospitals and health facilities in Maryland using the Chesapeake Regional Information System for our Patients (CRISP). This electronic system allows authorized health care providers to search for a patient’s advance directive at the time they are receiving care, which can be especially beneficial in an emergency situation.
“Being able to create and have access to advance directives online is a game changer for Maryland health care facilities as well as patients,” said Horizon Foundation Senior Program Officer Tiffany Callender It eliminates a huge hurdle to helping providers honor patient wishes.”
