Although the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services reimburses clinicians for advance-care planning when Medicare patients are seen for their yearly wellness visits, there is no real encouragement to patients themselves to put such plans in place. In fact, two thirds of American adults have no advance directives for their own health care should they be unable to make their wishes known. And that makes it tough to see that a patient's wishes are carried out — particularly since the patient's family may not even be aware of where that form is and what it calls for.

Lawmakers and health care groups are pushing to remedy that, according to a report in Modern Healthcare. Senators Bill Cassidy, R-LA, John Barrasso, R-WY and Michael Bennet, D-CO are hoping to get the CMS to become actively involved in making sure that advance directives are in place. To that end, they recently reintroduced the Medicare Choices Empowerment and Protection Act.

The legislation would have the CMS pay Medicare beneficiaries $75 for writing and registering digital advance directives, which would then be maintained online by accredited vendors certified by the CMS — ensuring that not only could beneficiaries' doctors access the directives but the CMS would also have on file which organization hosts which beneficiaries' information.