Vynca and Allegheny Health Network Partner to Help Honor Patients' End-of-Life Wishes

Allegheny Health Network (AHN) recently announced a partnership with Vynca, an advance care planning technology provider, to further assist patients and their families with end-of-life care decisions.

AHN will be the first health care provider in the state of Pennsylvania to implement Vynca's technology for assessing and electronically recording end-of-life care wishes of patients.

End-of-life medical orders are documented on Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) forms, which allow patients to formally establish their future health care preferences should they be unable to speak for themselves. POLST forms are typically carried with the patient from one care setting to the next.

Because POLST forms are not always easily or quickly accessible to medical staff, patients at the end-of-life stage are at risk of receiving undesired health interventions.

Vynca's platform ensures advance care planning documents, including POLST forms, reflect patients' most up-to-date preferences and are quickly available to health care providers across health care settings including primary care, nursing homes, or specialty clinics. When patients have a conversation with their clinician and caregivers about their options, advance care planning documents are electronically completed, including electronic signature, on a patient, family member, or clinical smartphone or electronic device. All documents can then be electronically accessed across all care settings via Vynca's platform.

"Our partnership with Vynca is an important step in ensuring patients' wishes are being honored in a way that has not been previously possible in health care," says Emily Jaffe, MD, director of postacute care for AHN. "With this technology and partnership, we're able to better curate and access our patients' medical plans, resulting in a higher quality of care for end-of-life patients and peace of mind for their families."

"We are pleased to partner with AHN to support their goals of engaging patients in planning for future care preferences," says Ryan Van Wert, MD, CEO of Vynca. "By ensuring advance care planning documents are accurately completed and electronically available, we'll help AHN provide personalized, patient-centered, goal-driven care across all health care settings."

Source: Vynca, LLC