Having to deal with a serious illness or condition can be trying and stressful times for a person, their family and their caregivers. No one should need to go through it alone. With our Advance Care Planning Program, your eligible¹ Florida Blue patients will get the care they need while their families and caregivers also receive support. We will collaborate with you about your patient’s state of health throughout their illness or condition. The program includes:

1)    Advanced Care/Life Planning Services:

Living Well², from Vital Decisions, offers patients advanced care and life planning services which:

• Helps individuals identify their quality-of-life preferences and values
• Assists individuals in actively and effectively communicating their priorities to family and physicians 
• Ensures a more effective shared decision-making process occurs during this difficult time

2)    Palliative Care Delivery:

Our palliative care delivery providers and care managers, offer ethical, compassionate care for the patient. Our care delivery providers also provide support for your patient’s family and caregivers. Physical symptom management, spiritual, cultural, environmental and social factors are considered for their care. A physician from one of our palliative care delivery providers will be assigned to your patient. They will contact you to collaborate in the management of your patient’s care. When appropriate, members will receive help with the transition to hospice care. 
 

¹ To be eligible for both components of the Advance Care Planning Program, Living Well and Palliative Care Delivery, a member must be enrolled in a commercial fully insured plan (all lines of business: Individual Under 65, Small, Mid or Large Group)
² Members enrolled in a commercial fully insured plan or Medicare Advantage plan may be eligible for our Living Well component of the program offered through Vital Decisions.

Florida Blue is required by federal regulations to provide certain information to Medicare Advantage members about advance directives in the State of Florida. Under Florida law, a person has the right to decide the type, amount, and duration of the medical care he or she receives. A member also has the right to appoint a representative to facilitate care or treatment decisions, including decisions about withholding resuscitative services or withdrawing life sustaining treatment, when the member is unable to do so. It’s the policy of Florida Blue to recognize the right of each member to make health care treatment decisions according to his or her personal beliefs. Each member has a right to decide whether to execute an advance directive to guide treatment decisions in the event the member becomes unable to do so. Florida Blue will not interfere with, and will respect, a member’s decision in accordance with Florida state laws. It’s the member’s responsibility to provide notification to his or her physician that an advance directive exists.

Members may obtain information about advance directives from the following sources:

•  Physicians or health care workers

•  Hospitals or skilled nursing facilities, and/or

•  The AHCA website

The Advance Directive – Living Will Forms are available for providers to give their patients to help them share their life planning and care decisions to family, friends, and health care providers. Members may contact AHCA at the address below if they wish to submit a complaint about non-compliance with advance directive requirements:

Florida Agency for Health Care Administration
Bureau of Managed Care
2727 Mahan Drive
Mail Stop 26, Bldg. 1, Room 333A
Tallahassee, FL 32308
Phone: (888) 419-3456
TDD (800) 955-8771

Patient Health Literacy

Chances are that some of your patients are among the millions of people in the United States whose health may be at risk because of difficulty in understanding and acting on health information. Health literacy is the ability to read, understand and effectively use basic medical instructions and information. Low health literacy can affect anyone of any age, ethnicity, and background or education level.

People with low health literacy:

You may not even know that these patients are in your practice because:

•  They are often embarrassed to admit they have difficulty understanding health information and instructions.

•  They use coping mechanisms that effectively mask their problem.

What you can do to improve health literacy

•  Partner with the Partnership for Clear Health Communication at the National Patient Safety Foundation^TM. The Partnership for Clear Communication is a coalition of national organizations that are working together to promote awareness and solutions around the issue of low health literacy and its effect on safe care and health outcomes.

•  Ask Me 3^TM is an educational program provided by the Partnership for Clear Health Communication. Visit their website at www.npsf.org/askme3 for brochures to post in your waiting and exam rooms and for distributing to your patients.

• Advanced Care Planning Update, May 2022
• Advanced Care Planning Program - Fact Sheet
• Advanced Directives and Living Wills
• Clinical Care Programs Referral Form for referring physicians and providers

Support Programs

• Support Program for Medicare Advantage Members with Advanced Illnesses
• Support Program for Commercial Members with Advanced Illnesses and Living Will Illnesses

Members

• Advanced Care Planning Member Flyer - English
• Advanced Care Planning Member Flyer - Spanish