Allina program helps patients discuss end-of-life planning

[Minnesota Public Radio, June 23, 2011] An effort that was pioneered in Wisconsin in the 1980s to get more people to prepare for the end of their lives has moved into the Twin Cities, serving as a model to create Minnesota's first large-scale program for end-of-life planning.

The Twin Cities program, called Honoring Choices Minnesota, is three years old and includes every health provider and health system in the metro area. It's the first, large metropolitan implementation of advanced care planning in the country.

At Minneapolis-based Allina Hospitals & Clinics alone, the number of patients filling out advanced care directives has gone from 16 to 39 percent.Listen to the whole story here.