MOST NEW JERSEYANS HAVE CONSIDERED BUT NOT PLANNED FOR END-OF-LIFE WISHES

One in 10 have talked to a doctor despite provider reimbursement

New Brunswick, N.J. (April 16, 2019) – In advance of National Health Care Decisions Day on April 16, a new poll shows that six in 10 New Jerseyans (61 percent) have given a great deal or at least some thought to their wishes for medical care towards the end of their life.

But only 47 percent have actually talked to someone about their wishes, 42 percent have designated someone to make decisions about their care if they are unable, and just 30 percent have a written document detailing their wishes.

These results come from the latest poll in the New Jersey Health Matters series by the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute in partnership with the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers University-New Brunswick.

Among those who have had a conversation, just 24 percent have actually talked to a doctor or other healthcare provider even though Medicare and Medicaid reimburse providers for having end-of-life care consultations with patients.

Almost all New Jerseyans have talked about their end of life wishes with a loved one (97 percent) – whether a spouse, parent, child or someone else. About four in ten (39 percent) say they have talked to a lawyer or financial planner, while 7 percent have talked with a spiritual leader.

The vast majority of those who have prepared a written document have shared a copy with a family member or loved one (84 percent); a similar number has shared it with their designated health care proxy (86 percent). Half have shared this type of document with a lawyer or financial planner (51 percent), and a quarter have done so with a doctor or healthcare provider (24 percent).

“People are thinking about their end-of-life care wishes, but there’s a real gap when it comes to discussing them and writing them down,” said Ashley Koning, assistant research professor and director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling. “The gap is wider for some groups more than others, influenced by key factors like age, gender and race.”

“We know the best way to make sure your end-of-life wishes are respected and honored is to discuss and document them. And that’s why we created Conversation of Your Life (COYL),” said Linda Schwimmer, president and CEO of the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute. “We therefore need physicians, nurses and other health care providers to encourage patients to talk about — and then document — their wishes. And if health care providers don’t bring the topic up, then patients should.”

Results are from a statewide poll of 1,203 adults contacted between March 7 and 22, 2019. Questions reported in this release were asked of a sub-sample, resulting in 622 New Jersey adults, 314 of which were contacted by live callers on both landlines and cell phones and 308 through an online probability-based panel. The combined sample has a margin of error of +/-5.0 percentage points Interviews were done in English and, when requested, Spanish. Find the full press release, including the poll questions and tables at http://eagletonpoll.rutgers.edu/rutgers-eagleton-NJHCQI-end-of-life-care-April-2019 or clickhere.