News

Washington, D.C., February 21, 2023 - The Medical Society of the District of Columbia (MSDC), the largest medical organization in the District representing metropolitan Washington physicians, is pleased to announce a partnership with CRISP DC. The partnership recognizes the importance of advance care planning to patient rights and spotlights the value of CRISP DC’s cloud-based advance care planning solution, which is available for all District providers at no cost.

In 2019, DC representatives passed legislation requiring the development of a secure, cloud-based eMOST and advance directives registry connected to the Designated DC Health Information Exchange (HIE). Through an initiative led by the DC Department of Health Care Finance and DC Health, CRISP DC collaborated with A|D Vault to embed its advance care planning platform, called MyDirectives for Clinicians, in the HIE. As of March 8, 2023, District providers can request access to the application to create the DC Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment (MOST), National POLST, Universal Advance Directive (uADD), and Psychiatric Advance Directive, or upload existing advance care plans all within the CRISP DC HIE. By using MyDirectives for Clinicians in the CRISP DC HIE, providers ensure other care teams, such as ambulatory providers and DC Fire and EMS responders, can access this information to honor the patient’s care decisions and that patients can view, manage, and share their documents with healthcare agents, loved ones, and other care team members via their patient portal at MyDirectives.com.

An advance care plan is an integral part of a patient’s medical records. Through an advance care plan in the Designated DC Health Information Exchange (HIE), CRISP DC, physicians can protect their patient’s right to decide the care path, prepare them for emergency and/or end-of-life situations that help eliminate unnecessary and unwanted medical treatments and procedures, and help them control their medical costs.

MSDC President Dr. Susanne Bathgate said, “MSDC is pleased to partner with CRISP DC. Advance care planning and end-of-life care is essential to patient peace of mind. The resources and training CRISP DC provides are informative, helpful, and very worthwhile. The streamlined, single sign-on system eases the burden for busy physicians and their care teams.”

“CRISP DC’s main goal is to deliver the right health information to the right place at the right time to enable safe, timely, effective, equitable, and patient-centered care. Key information, like advance care plans, help providers make quicker decisions and provide better treatments,” according to CRISP DC Project Manager, Corey Main.

Providers and their patients can benefit from the advance care planning program in many ways, such as:

• Interoperability. Streamline access between District providers, DC Fire, and EMS to patient advance directives
• Preparedness. Provide patients peace of mind in emergency and/ or end-of-life situations.
• Less burnout. Focus on high-need patients and reduce low value care and activities.
• Patient satisfaction. Meet Medicare quality mandates and boost performance ratings for higher referrals from patients, family, and community.
• Lower EOL costs. Opt for less expensive care options and shorten stay without negatively impacting mortality.
• Revenue increase. Expand service offerings to patients without significant investment in time and resources.

DC providers are invited to attend an upcoming group webinar to get background on the Advance Care Planning Initiative, a demo of MyDirectives for Clinicians, and Q&A. Save the date and register for a session below that best fits your schedule at CRISPDC.org/ACP:

• Wednesday, March 8: 8 am, 12 pm, 5 pm
• Friday, March 10: 8 am, 12 pm
• Wednesday, April 5: 8 am, 12 pm, 5 pm
• Friday, April 7: 8 am, 12 pm

If your team is unable to attend, recordings and additional information are available at crispdc.org/acp. To get involved or schedule an individual informational session, please contact the CRISP DC Outreach team at dcoutreach@crisphealth.org.



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Media Contact:
Pia Duryea                                                                              
Medical Society of the District of Columbia            
duryea@msdc.org                                                               
(202) 355-9414                                                                                                                  

About the Medical Society of the District of Columbia
With over 3,200 members, the Medical Society of the District of Columbia (MSDC) is the largest medical organization representing metropolitan Washington physicians in the District of Columbia. The Medical Society, founded in 1817, is the leading voice of medicine and public health advocate on issues impacting the diverse population of our nation’s capital. MSDC is dedicated to ensuring the wellbeing of physicians and their patients in metropolitan Washington. For more information, visit msdc.org.

About CRISP DC
CRISP DC is the designated health information exchange (HIE), serving the District of Columbia. The CRISP DC HIE is a way of instantly sharing health and social determinants information among doctors’ offices, hospitals, labs, radiology centers, community based organizations, and other healthcare entities. CRISP DC is proud to serve and connect 14,000+ users and over 1,000 organizations across the District.