Advance Care Planning
What is Advance Care Planning (ACP)?
Advance Care Planning helps you reflect on how you want to live your life and what matters most to you when it comes to healthcare. It involves real conversations with your loved ones and doctors about your values, goals, and wishes for future medical care—especially during times when you may not be able to speak for yourself.
Through ACP, you can document your preferences in an Advance Directive (sometimes called a Living Will) so everyone knows what you would want.
Important Forms & Links
Everyone 18 and older—whether you’re perfectly healthy or managing a health condition. It’s never too early to have these important conversations and put your wishes in writing.
An Advance Directive is a legal document that spells out your preferences for medical treatment if you become unable to communicate. It only takes effect if you can’t speak for yourself and meet specific medical criteria (for example, a terminal condition or permanent unconsciousness). One of the most important parts of this process is naming a Health Care Agent (also called a Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare)—the trusted person you choose to make decisions on your behalf.
Your Health Care Agent is the person you appoint to speak on your behalf and make medical decisions if you cannot. The best way to help them is to talk openly with them about your values, goals, and what kind of care you would or wouldn’t want to receive.
It only becomes active if:
- You are unable to communicate or make decisions for yourself, AND
- You have a terminal illness or an irreversible injury where recovery isn’t expected, or you are permanently unconscious.
You remain fully in charge of your treatment decisions for everyday illnesses, injuries, or routine care.
Common decisions include whether to continue:
- Breathing support (ventilator)
- Artificial nutrition and hydration (feeding tube or IV fluids)
- CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation)
- Dialysis, surgeries, blood transfusions, or certain medications
Comfort care and pain relief are always provided. Food and water by mouth are always offered if you can safely swallow.
If you haven’t named an agent, state law decides who gets to speak for you (often a spouse, adult child, parent, or sibling—in that order). That person might not know what you would have wanted, which can cause confusion, guilt, and emotional distress for your family during an already difficult time.
No. A Health Care Agent only has authority over medical and healthcare related decisions. Financial decisions require a separate document called a Financial Power of Attorney. To learn more, here are some important Forms and Links:
Most state health department websites and offices will have information regarding these documents.
Here are links to neighboring states:
Yes! In Idaho, the form only needs to be signed by you. It does not require witnesses or notary. In Oregon, for instance, AD forms must be witnessed by two others and the witnesses cannot be named as your Health Care Agents. Montana requires two witnesses but does not require a notary. Wyoming does require two witnesses and a notary needed to sign.
Make sure you share a copy with your family, your Health Care Agent, and your medical provider. A copy of your AD should be kept at home with other important paperwork—NOT be put in a safety deposit box or hidden where it cannot be found. If you are going to the hospital, bring a copy with you. There is a registry with the State of Idaho that you can have the documents available to vetted healthcare organizations throughout the State of Idaho when requested. Healthcare providers can upload those documents to the registry, you can set up an account yourself or you can also reach out to the Idaho Directive Healthcare You can register your documents by email/mail here:
A POST form is a further extension of your preferences for medical care that can be respected across all healthcare settings including by emergency responders. It is a document recommended for people with a severe, chronic or terminal condition and must be signed by you or your surrogate and by your healthcare provider. It does not allow you to choose a Health Care Agent. This is a form to fill out with a medical provider present and be signed by him/her. Here is a link to the form:
- Idaho POST Form
A POST form is something you fill out in order to have your wishes followed immediately whereas an advanced directive is for the future. If a patient is planning to come to a hospital to seek treatment, a POST form wouldn't be needed because the provider and the hospital are going to do everything possible and provide aggressive treatment.
Yes! The Idaho Healthcare Directive Registry has a hotline to ask questions and receive help. For questions regarding POST form, you can always reach out to your primary care physician for assistance in filling these out and clarifying your wishes.
