[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Page 4464]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   NATIONAL HEALTHCARE DECISIONS DAY

  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I am pleased to recognize that Saturday, 
April 16, 2016, was National Healthcare Decisions Day. National 
Healthcare Decisions Day exists to inspire, educate, and empower the 
public and providers about the importance of advance care planning. 
Started by a Richmond attorney as a local grassroots initiative in 
Virginia, NHDD became an annual event in 2008, and today it is 
recognized across all 50 States. Faith-based groups, doctors and 
nurses, hospitals, patients, and caregivers alike are engaged in these 
efforts. NHDD is an opportunity for all Americans to discuss their 
preferences and goals with family and friends--and this starts with 
filling out an advance directive.
  In the last year, we have made real progress in giving Americans 
access to the clear, consistent, and concise information they need to 
make critical health care decisions, and there is a growing awareness 
of the need to transform advanced care, both among providers and 
families.
  In my own State of Virginia, the general assembly recently designated 
April as Advance Care Planning Month. Around the Commonwealth, 
Virginians are innovating and creating new models of care to provide 
patients with the tools and support to make their own advanced care 
decisions. For example, the Richmond Academy of Medicine's Honoring 
Choices Initiative is a partnership with three major health care 
systems working to adopt nationally recognized best practices and 
adapting them to the needs of patients, families, doctors, and 
hospitals in central Virginia. On the ground, Virginians are holding 
dozens of events this month to encourage individuals to fill out an 
advance directive.
  This year has been a significant one at the national level as well. 
For the first time, Medicare providers are being compensated for 
spending time with their patients to discuss their health care 
decisions. And I am pleased that the bipartisan Care Planning Act, 
which I introduced again this last year with Senator Isakson, has 
gained more support than ever, including from nearly 90 health and 
senior advocacy groups. The purpose of the Care Planning Act is to 
align the care people want with the level of care they get. It doesn't 
limit choices; it works to make sure people are made fully aware of the 
broad range of choices they have. The growing support for this 
legislation demonstrates just how far the conversation around advance 
care planning has come. While physician reimbursement is an important 
first step, the Care Planning Act provides a strong, bipartisan 
foundation for Congress as we consider how to further empower patients 
to make informed choices about their own care.
  I am working to advance this conversation wherever I can. For 
example, Senator Isakson and I are cochairs of the Finance Committee's 
bipartisan chronic care working group, and we are looking at a broad 
range of policies so that chronically ill patients receive the highest 
quality care at all stages of illness, especially towards the end of 
life. We are not going to pass the Care Planning Act in full as a part 
of that process, but I see this process as a real way to move the ball 
forward. While this process remains a work in progress, I am hopeful 
that we will be able to get some of these bipartisan provisions done.
  I know how important this is not just from my time serving as a 
Governor and as a Senator but through the eyes of a loved one who 
struggled with these issues. My own mother suffered from Alzheimer's 
disease for 10 years, and for 9 of those years, she couldn't speak. My 
father, sister, and I found grappling with the challenges of caring for 
her difficult. The difficulty was greater because, when she was first 
diagnosed, my family didn't take the opportunity to talk in an honest 
and fully informed way with her and her health care providers about the 
full array of health care options available or about what her 
priorities would be during the final years of her life.
  Care planning is a subject that most people do their best to avoid, 
but on National Healthcare Decisions Day, I urge all Americans to fill 
out an advance directive and to have these conversations. I also urge 
my fellow policymakers to continue engaging in this dialogue to improve 
advanced care planning at all levels--Federal, State, local--so that at 
the end of the day, we are empowering Americans and their loved ones.

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