Quantcast

National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD) — April 16


National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD) exists to inspire, educate and empower the public and providers about the importance of advance care planning.

About

Mission

National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD) exists to inspire, educate and empower the public and providers about the importance of advance care planning. NHDD is an initiative to encourage patients to express their wishes regarding healthcare and for providers and facilities to respect those wishes, whatever they may be.

Overview

NHDD was founded in 2008 by Nathan Kottkamp, a Virginia-based health care lawyer, to provide clear, concise, and consistent information on healthcare decision-making to both the public and providers/facilities through the widespread availability and dissemination of simple, free, and uniform tools (not just forms) to guide the process.

NHDD is a series of independent events held across the country, supported by a national media and public education campaign. In all respects, NHDD is inclusive and brings a variety of players in the larger healthcare, legal, and religious community together to work on a common project, to the benefit of patients, families, and providers. A key goal of NHDD is to demystify healthcare decision-making and make the topic of advance care planning inescapable. Among other things, NHDD helps people understand that advance healthcare decision-making includes much more than living wills; it is a process that should focus first on conversation and choosing an agent.

As of June 2016, The Conversation Project has been responsible for the management, finances, and structure of NHDD.  NHDD’s founder, Nathan Kottkamp, continues to be involved in NHDD and provides leadership by ensuring the maintenance of NHDD’s high quality resources and support for the community.

Read more about NHDD’s founding: https://theconversationproject.org/nhdd/origins/

Vision

Across the country, every healthcare facility will participate as the flagship venues for the public engagement. Other participating organizations/facilities that have their own physical spaces will engage in activities as well. Those organizations that lack physical spaces will work in conjunction with others or at non-healthcare venues (libraries, grocery stores, drug stores, etc.) to support the initiative. A variety of churches, synagogues, and mosques around the country will also support the effort by highlighting the importance of advance care planning with their congregations.


Contact Us

Please email us at nhdd@ihi.org for any questions related to National Healthcare Decisions Day.

Follow us on social media!

@NHDD on Twitter

National Healthcare Decisions Day on Facebook