Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Issue Payment Codes for Advance Care Planning for 2016

Despite increased media and public attention to end of life care, only 17 percent of adults say they have had such a discussion with their doctor or health care provider. In contrast, 9 in 10 adults (89 percent) say doctors should discuss end-of-life care issues with their patients. (Kaiser Family Foundation 2015)

In a fee-for-service medical environment, incentives to provide a wide array of services are driven by the ability to bill and collect for services performed. While roughly 60% of physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and others who perform billable patient care services are now “employees” and do not benefit directly from producing billable services (New York Times 2014), their organizations seek to make ends meet by billing under a fee for service model to collect fair compensation for what they provide to their customers.

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