State Medical Society and Health Insurer Create Instructional DVD to Improve End-of-Life Care

ROCHESTER, NY (08/01/2007)(readMedia)-- The Medical Society of the State of New York (MSSNY) and Excellus BlueCross BlueShield have collaborated on a free instructional DVD that will train health and legal professionals in the Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (MOLST) Program designed to improve the quality of care people receive at the end-of-life. The program includes training in the use of a MOLST form on which patients can document end-of-life preferences. About 20,000 copies of the DVD will be distributed to health care providers across the state.

The MOLST Program helps seriously ill patients with advanced chronic illness and frailty maintain control of health care decisions about life-sustaining treatment. It helps patients avoid receiving treatments they do not want, while receiving treatments they do want. By having completed MOLST forms in their medical records, patients can be assured that the medical world will understand and listen to their wishes.

Said Robert B. Goldberg, DO, president of MSSNY, “Our goal is to increase awareness of the MOLST Program and get the MOLST form as widely used as Health Care Proxies and Living Wills. The instructional DVD will familiarize health and legal professionals with the MOLST Program, train them to identify appropriate candidates for MOLST and guide them through the process of completing the form.”

Said Patricia Bomba, MD., medical director of geriatrics for Excellus BlueCross BlueShield and a national expert on end-of-life issues, “We must get the MOLST form into wider use so loved ones who are in decline can write their own final chapter.”

According to Bomba, surveys show that people aren’t dying in the setting of their choice, most don’t have advance directives in place, the majority of those being referred to hospice arrive too late to fully benefit, and most fear dying in pain and without dignity or control.

The MOLST form was approved for use in 2005 by the New York State Department of Health. It is signed by a doctor and is unique in that it follows a patient as he or she transfers through various facilities or levels of care.

Prior to the creation of the MOLST Program, end-of-life preferences did not always travel with patients when they made their way through the health care system as their physical state and ability to communicate declined.

Added Bomba, “The MOLST form provides family members, care givers and legal advisors the documentation they need to accurately represent a patient’s wishes.”

In addition to the free DVD, MSSNY and Excellus BlueCross BlueShield have collaborated on Web-based tools for helping identify appropriate candidates for MOLST as well as instruction on completing the form. CME credit for providers who complete the DVD or Web-based tutorials is also being investigated.

To get a free copy of the MOLST instructional DVD or to view the Web-based tools, visit http://www.compassionandsupport.org .

For additional information on The Medical Society of the State of New York (MSSNY) visit http://www.mssny.org.

MSSNY is an organization of approximately 30,000 licensed physicians, medical residents, and medical students in New York State. Members participate in both the state society and in their local county medical societies.

MSSNY is a nonprofit organization committed to representing the medical profession as a whole and advocating health related rights, responsibilities and issues. MSSNY strives to promote and maintain high standards in medical education and in the practice of medicine in an effort to ensure that quality medical care is available to the public.

For additional information on Excellus BlueCross BlueShield visit http://www.excellusbcbs.com .

Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, a nonprofit independent licensee of the BlueCross BlueShield Association, is part of a family of companies that finances and delivers vital health care services to 2 million people across upstate New York. Excellus BlueCross BlueShield provides access to high-quality, affordable health coverage, including valuable health-related resources that our members use every day, such as cost-saving prescription drug discounts and Member Rewards.

-30-