As advance care planning booms, use 5 tips to expand your offerings

Why This Topic Matters

Advance care planning is a growing reimbursable service area, and understanding the broad Medicare and CPT framework can help practices evaluate whether they are capturing eligible services and structuring conversations appropriately.

Article Sections

1. Current growth in advance care planning

   This section reviews the broader rise in advance care planning use and the Medicare context surrounding it. It also introduces the general scope of the service and its place in practice revenue.

2. Why usage may still be limited

   This section discusses broad barriers that may affect adoption, including provider reluctance, time concerns, and other common obstacles. It frames why the service may not yet be fully utilized.

3. 5 steps to boost ACP services

   This section outlines practice-level approaches for increasing advance care planning activity. It covers general workflow, patient communication, tools, visit integration, and staffing considerations.

4. Plant the seeds in your patients' minds

   This subsection focuses on making advance care planning a routine part of patient care over time. It emphasizes early and consistent conversation patterns.

5. Reframe your conversations

   This subsection discusses broad ways to present advance care planning as a planning process rather than a single end-of-life discussion. It highlights patient-centered conversation framing.

6. Integrate a form to guide the way

   This subsection covers the use of supportive tools and resources to help guide advance care planning discussions. It mentions outside training and starter resources.

7. Wrap ACP into the annual wellness visit (AWV)

   This subsection addresses how advance care planning may be incorporated into preventive visit workflows. It also notes a preventive-services modifier in the Medicare billing context.

8. Don't be afraid of incident to

   This subsection discusses non-physician practitioner participation and related billing workflow considerations. It focuses on general Medicare allowance and payer processing issues.