National Healthcare Decision Day
We have compiled a list of resources that will help you begin conversations with your loved ones that will clarify your healthcare priorities at the end of life.
Patient Care Priorities
MyHealthPriorities.org is an interactive tool that helps people reflect on what matters most in their health and daily life so they can make more informed healthcare decisions. By guiding users through questions about personal goals, symptoms, and treatment preferences, the site creates a personalized health priorities summary that can be shared with doctors and caregivers to support more patient-centered care.
PREPARE for Your Care
PREPARE for Your Care is a free, interactive website that helps people plan for future medical decisions and communicate their healthcare wishes. Through short videos and step-by-step guidance, the site helps users choose a medical decision-maker, reflect on what matters most for their care, and learn how to discuss their preferences with family members and healthcare providers. It also offers easy-to-read advance directive forms for all 50 states, helping individuals document and share their medical wishes.
Conversation Projects
The Conversation Project is an initiative of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, meant to help people talk with loved ones about their wishes for medical care, especially near the end of life. The website offers free guides, worksheets, and conversation starters to support meaningful discussions and ensure that healthcare decisions reflect what matters most to each person.
Choosing a Healthcare Proxy
This guide from The Conversation Project helps individuals choose a trusted person to make healthcare decisions on their behalf if they become unable to speak for themselves. The resource explains what a health care proxy is, how to select the right person, and how to have meaningful conversations about values, wishes, and medical preferences. It also provides prompts and practical steps to help people communicate their wishes clearly and include them in an advance directive.
Alabama Advanced Directive for Healthcare
This Advance Directive for Health Care form from the Alabama Department of Public Health enables individuals to record their preferences for medical treatment if they become unable to speak for themselves. The document includes a living will section, where users can indicate whether they want life-sustaining treatments, artificial nutrition, or hydration if they are terminally ill or permanently unconscious. It also includes a health care proxy section, where they can appoint a trusted person to make medical decisions on their behalf. Completing this form helps ensure that healthcare providers and loved ones understand and respect a person’s medical wishes during serious illness or incapacity.
This can be witnessed by anyone who is not your healthcare proxy or related to you by blood, adoption, or marriage and not entitled to any part of your estate. Also, the witness must be at least 19 years old and not directly responsible for paying for your medical care.