AHRQ Research in Action

We'll be highlighting some of the awesome resources from our NHDD site, and thought this wealth of information about advance care planning would be a great place to start.


The U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, in a 2003 article, “Advance Care Planning: Preferences for Care at the End of Life,” found the following:

AHRQ Research In Action: Advance Care Planning

• Less than 50 percent of the severely or terminally ill patients studied had an advance directive in their medical record.

• Only 12 percent of patients with an advance directive had received input from their physician in its development.

• Between 65 and 76 percent of physicians whose patients had an advance directive were not aware that it existed.

How is this all possible?! Right? Please share your thoughts below and join us in advocating for increased public awareness about advance care planning so people have access to understanding decisions that affect the quality of their care.