U.S. Living Will Registry Fact Sheet

• 75% of Americans are in favor of advance directives
• 25-30% of Americans have actually prepared an advance directive.
• 35% of advance directives cannot be found when they are needed.
• An advance directive (a living will or health care proxy), a legal document in which a person states the type of health care treatment he or she wants in case the person becomes incapacitated, allows a person to make their health care choices known, or name someone to make decisions for them.
• Both federal and state laws govern the use of advance directives. The federal law, the Patient Self-Determination Act, requires health care facilities that receive Medicaid and Medicare funds to inform patients of their rights to execute advance directives and to place the document into the medical record.
• Hospitals and health care providers have found that storing and retrieving advance directives is a difficult and time-consuming problem.
• The Registry is the solution for managing advance directives. Health care providers can outsource ALL of their advance directives to the Registry for easy storage and instant retrieval by telephone or Internet.
• The Registry's Living Vault^® service allows health care providers to store ALL of their advance directives making it a comprehensive and economical way to manage these important documents.
• All 50 states and the District of Columbia have laws recognizing the use of advance directives.
• Thanks to the U.S. Living Will Registry, an advance directive is now an invaluable tool to help people make their health care decisions known!
• Confidential and private, the U.S. Living Will Registry is free to the registrant.  They must register through a member Health Care Provider or Partner.  Providers pay an annual fee for unlimited 24-hour access to the Registry's automated service. 
• You will be able to "speak" to your family through your advance directive, helping them to make tough decisions with your doctor - while relieving family members of feelings of guilt, anxiety and remorse.
• Most importantly, the U.S. Living Will Registry provides you with "peace of mind," knowing that your choices are secure and will be available to your family and doctors even if you become incapacitated or ill away from home.
• Developed in consultation with attorneys who represent hospitals, the Registry electronically stores advance directives and makes them available to health care providers across the country 24 hours a day.