National Healthcare Decisions Day exists to inspire, educate and empower the public and providers about the importance of advance care planning. The overall theme for 2017 is “It always seems too early, until it’s too late.”
Overview
NHDD exists as a 50-state annual initiative 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 entails 50 independent, but coordinated, state and local events (necessitated by the difference in state laws and dynamics) 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/religious community together to work on a common project, to the benefit of patients, families, and providers. NHDD is not prescriptive; it allows for and fosters creativity.
A key goal of NHDD is to demystify healthcare decision-making and make the topic of advance care planning inescapable. On NHDD, no one in the U.S. should be able to open a paper, watch TV, view the internet, see a physician or lawyer, or go to a healthcare facility without being confronted with the topic of advance care planning. 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.
Outreach Webinar
Join the outreach team on February 15, 2017 at 3:00 pm EST for a National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD) Webinar. This April NHDD supporters look forward to celebrating 10 years of promoting advance care planning conversations across the country.
To RSVP for the webinar and access connection instructions, e-mail zrubin@ihi.org.
Share a Story
In addition to sharing ideas for how you can celebrate NHDD in April, we will be highlighting examples of the great initiatives that NHDD participants have led over the years and we want to hear from you. Share with us the stories of how you have celebrated NHDD. Your story could be featured on the national webinar. Story submissions should be sent to NHDD@ihi.org with the subject line “NHDD Story.” Note: by submitting your story, you consent to having it included in the webinar, blog posts and/or social media posts.
Learn More
To learn more about National Healthcare Decisions Day, please visit www.nhdd.org.
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