Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2023 Aug 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Pain Symptom Manage. 2023 Apr 23;66(2):e265–e273. doi: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2023.04.022

Table 3.

Secular Trends During This Multi-site Advance Care Planning Pragmatic Trial

Secular Trend UCLA UC Irvine UCSF
External Changes
COVID pandemic, clinics shut down with shift to telehealth 3/2020 3/2020 3/2020
EHR Related Updates
EHR ACP Activity rolled out to all patients Started 10/2018 Started 7/2020 Started 1/2019
Fillable AD pdf available for UCLA Health AD Started 7/2020
AD’s added to health maintenance module Started 10/2020 Started 7/2021 Started 6/2021
EHR Patient portal AD reminders instituted for the health system Started 1/2021 Started 2/2022 Started 10/2021
Ability to upload AD through patient portal and reviewed by Health Information Services Started 4/2021
Quality Improvement Programs
ACP intervention sent to primary care patients 65 and older without serious illness in study clinics 4/2020 (Arm 1 intervention only to health system quality improvement effort) Started 10/19 (PCORI intervention to all patients 65 and older without serious illness)
ACP Quality Metrics provided to Oncologists as part of another QI effort Started 10/2018
Population defined “Meaningful ACP” from HER elements and created EHR dashboard as part of another QI effort Started 1/2019
Annual Wellness Visit Push for ACP Started 4/2021 (nurse practitioners involved in preparing patients for the visits Started 7/2022 Started 7/2019
Inpatient ACP intervention Started 7/2020 (A “surprise” question added to documentation) Started 7/2019 (education, dashboards, clinician training, incentives)
Separate QI projects use PCORI intervention and study materials in non-PCORI clinics 2/2021 (several primary care clinics) 10/2021 (primary care) Started 10/2019 (primary care and surgery)
ACP Integrated into Cancer Center Materials Started 6/2022 Started 1/2020
Clinician Education & Initiatives
Medicine resident ACP training Annually Annually Annually
Clinician and staff outreach about ACP EMR changes and billing 2/2018 9/2021 Started 1/2019
Additional Health system ACP Clinician Training 4/2019 oncologists & social workers

7/2021 Bone Marrow Transplant nurse practitioners
7/2019 Primary care 4/2019 (4 hours offered to all primary care providers in study clinics)
Patient-Focused Interventions
ACP Group Meetings/Events for patients Started 1/2019 Started 1/2019 Started 4/2019
Notaries in clinic 4/2019, shut down 3/2020 with COVID and staff transitions
Systemwide Healthcare Decisions Day Outreach Started 4/2019 Started 4/2019
Law student home visits for ACP Started 4/2019 UCSF/UC Hastings Consortium on Law, Science & Health Policy
Social workers allowed to complete ACP visits Started 7/2019

EHR = electronic health record, AD = advance directive, ACP = advance care planning