Plan To Be 100

It’s been over a year since Michigan adopted a law authorizing the use of a Physician’s Order for Scope of Treatment (POST). The details of that law were discussed in that prior post:  POST set to join Michigan’s Medical Directive Stew.  (Click on the name to read that post.) 

As discussed in that prior post, as a result of the passage of the law, State regulators were tasked with creating a uniform POST form. They have done that.  It has been published, and yesterday was the deadline for comments.  I don’t know if any comments were submitted, or if any changes will be forthcoming.  But for now, I think it is safe to assume that the following document is either exactly what will be used, or very close to what will be used: MI-POST Form (click on name to see the form).  I will post more in the future if significant changes are made as a result of comments.

The same State site also offers an information sheet (click here) and a frequently asked questions sheet (click here), both of which might be helpful to those wanting to better understand the purpose and use of this new planning tool.

Lawyers won’t be preparing MI-POST forms for clients, but estate planning lawyers need to be aware of these forms and understand their place. Clients may have questions about them, and patient advocate designations should probably be updated to include POST powers.