In January, CMS began reimbursing physicians for end-of-life discussions. Despite physicians' support for the new initiative, just 14 percent have billed Medicare for these discussions since January, according to national poll from the California Health Care Foundation.
There are a number of barriers to beginning advanced care planning discussions with patients, and EHRs are numbered amongst these obstacles. Of the physicians polled, 24 percent said their EHRs don't have a place to document if their patients have an advanced care plan. For physicians with EHRs that do have that functionality, just 54 percent say they can actually access the content of their patients' advanced care plans.