Conversing with High-Risk Patients to Determine Serious Illness Goals and Values in the Time of Covid-19

Abstract

During the Covid-19 pandemic’s first surge in Boston, Brigham Health sought to ensure that patients’ health care proxies and serious illness wishes were known to care teams. The authors engaged a diverse set of team members in outreach regarding serious illness conversations. Patients enrolled in the Integrated Care Management Program (iCMP) were contacted by their own nurse care coordinator for a serious illness conversation, discussing patients’ goals and values in the context of underlying illness and the threat of Covid-19. Simultaneously, nurses, medical students, and social care team members reached out to non-iCMP primary care patients identified as being at high risk of morbidity or mortality from Covid-19 and engaged these patients in conversations regarding health care proxy documentation and social determinants of health needs. The authors’ experience demonstrates that such a population health approach can facilitate timely and well-accepted outreach regarding serious illness to patients with varied needs and profiles.