NYU Langone tackles end-of-life care decision-making

NYU Langone Health developed an end-of-life clinical decision support care initiative for shared decision-making among patients, their families and the care team. Launched in 2017, the Respecting Choices Person-Centered Care Model improves care by aligning the goals of the patient and the care team. "Understanding and documenting patients' goals, values, and preferences helps ensure our care teams are always providing care that aligns with the patient's wishes," said Dr. Jonathan Austrian, medical director, Inpatient Clinical Informatics, at NYU Langone Health. End-of-life care is a tough subject for physicians, patients and their families. Providers have long known that care at the end of life can be enormously expensive, and may not reflect a patient's wishes. Medicare has estimated that 25 percent of its annual spending is used by 5 percent of patients during the last year of their lives.