Our Families. Our Patients. Ourselves.
In March of 2020, there was a nationwide shortage of life support equipment and hospital beds. Physicians were forced to make gut-wrenching choices about who got a ventilator and who didn’t and family members found themselves navigating difficult decisions without support. As physicians, we know that as people age, most prioritize family and a life well lived over aggressive medical intervention.
And it hit us – what if we just ASKED our patients about their preferences ahead of time?
Without support, it can be awkward and uncomfortable for both parties. For those brave enough to stumble through it, translating that clinical discussion into legal documentation and sharing it with loved ones is yet another uphill battle. But join me for a quick thought exercise:
Do your loved ones know what kind of care YOU would want if you fell seriously ill right now? In what scenarios would aggressive medical intervention be acceptable? What does an unacceptable quality of life look like for you?
We’ve spoken to hundreds of folks, and most confidently respond with “My family knows what I want.” But for most, the grim reality is that their family would actually have better luck flipping a coin.
Without a clinically guided conversation, the likelihood that your loved ones choose the care YOU would have wanted is less than 50%.
For years, we experienced the professional and personal fall-out of this miscommunication: loved ones are burdened by intimidating medical decisions, families fight and break down over treatment directions, and months are spent in court. Health care providers are legally required to deliver care that patients’ never wanted while health care systems sag under the misuse of resources.
At Koda Health, we’ve digitized the clinically and legally complex process of proactive health care planning. We make conversations between providers and their patients easy and engaging, empowering people to speak confidently about their own healthcare preferences without interrupting physician workflow. Patients receive personalized and engaging content on topics such as life support and are able to explore their values and care preferences, identify a medical decision maker, and generate high-value legal documents – Documents they can then access, share, update, and virtually notarize on our platform.
Our goal, first and foremost, is to get everyone on the same page. And, ideally, this is an ongoing discussion – one that should be revisited with all parties whenever there is a change in life or health status. The Koda platform allows you to revisit the conversation and adjust your preferences at any time – we’ll inform all parties so you don’t have to!
Long story short, Koda was built for… you!