Original author(s) Website mydirectives.com | Platform iOS, Web | |
Initial release 2011; 6 years ago (2011) Development status Advance health care directives service | ||
MyDirectives is a digital cloud-based advance medical directives platform, accessible at MyDirectives.com and via the MyDirectives Mobile app. Storing advance health care directive documents digitally can alleviate the need for doctors or family members to track down these documents during an emergency.
Contents
MyDirectives allows users to create, store, update and retrieve advance medical directives and other digital healthcare documents online. Healthcare providers can access these directives as a module within electronic medical record systems. The service is free to consumers and healthcare providers.
MyDirectives was established in 2011, MyDirectives.com launched in 2012, and MyDirectives Mobile for iPhone and iPad was added in 2015. MyDirectives is a service of ADVault, Inc., a privately held U.S. corporation.
A user can update his or her advance directive as circumstances or healthcare wishes change via MyDirectives.com and MyDirectives Mobile. Users’ advance directives can also be retrieved by doctors and healthcare professionals in case of emergency. The app makes a user’s advance care plan accessible to healthcare providers even when an iPhone is locked, ensuring the user’s voice can be heard even in case of emergency. MyDirectives also allows users to upload audio and video recordings conveying their wishes, which can then be seen by healthcare providers and loved ones. Users can also identify healthcare agents who will act on their behalf in the event of a healthcare emergency. The platform’s accessibility can help alleviate anxiety and ambiguity that may arise about questions surrounding an individual’s wishes.
MyDirectives.com offers conversation starters and guidance for users on how to discuss advance care planning wishes with family members. MyDirectives is free to consumers and healthcare providers. Health insurance companies pay to provide their beneficiaries the ability to create their directives.
History
MyDirectives was founded in 2011 by Scott Brown and Jeff Zucker. MyDirectives.com went live in 2012, and MyDirectives Mobile was launched in January 2015. Several major healthcare systems including Cerner, Humana, and Coordinated Care Oklahoma have partnered with MyDirectives as the chosen advance care plan platform for their members.
The uADD
MyDirectives uses a proprietary universal advance digital directive (uADD) platform that combines a living will and medical power of attorney. Directives can also include additional wishes such as an individual’s thoughts on resuscitation, organ donation, autopsy, and qualitative questions for caregiving. The uADD is legal in all U.S. states and in countries around the world and is designed to simplify over 200 advance health care directive forms used in Asia, Europe and North America. It also gives users the ability to create audio and video messages to further communicate their desires for their care. The uADD is designed to help doctors, nurses, caregivers and family members understand an individual’s thoughts, goals, and wishes.
MyDirectives allows consumers to attach digital copies of paper-based advance health care directive forms, including the Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST), Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (MOLST), Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment (MOST) and other portable treatment orders.
Recognition
MyDirectives is the first medical directives platform to receive meaningful-use certification from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. AdVault Inc. is also a supporting organization of the Blue Button program of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which promotes the use of downloadable personal health records.
MyDirectives has been endorsed by the Office of Clinical Ethics and Palliative Care at Baylor Health Care System and its director, Dr. Robert Fine, Dr. Michael Wasserman, who served as chair of the American Geriatrics Society’s Managed Care Task Force, and by former Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), a heart and lung specialist. Dr. Monica Williams-Murphy, a board certified emergency physician at the University of Alabama Hospital, where she also serves as the medical director of advance care planning and end of life education, called MyDirectives “a pioneer in enabling individuals to articulate our own medical choices.”
PC Magazine listed MyDirectives as one of its "Top 100 Websites of 2013." MedCity News included MyDirectives as one of 10 startups to offer an early look at 2014 trends.