4Step iCare Plan

Helping to Determine What’s Best

Our 4Step iCare Plan helps you engage your patients in a conversation about challenging medical decisions. It requires participation from you and the patient or family decision-maker.

The objective is to help your patient identify his or her goals of care and to align a treatment plan that genuinely reflects those individual preferences so that patients get the care they need and no more and the care they want and no less.

The traditional 2-step approach to making medical decisions (diagnosis and treatment) is of course used for less serious medical conditions. Patients with advanced illness will benefit from the more detailed 4-Step ACP model. This methodology adds two important steps between the diagnosis and treatment—these are prognosis and goals of care.

The 4-Steps in Practice

First, it’s important to make sure that a patient and their family clearly understand the diagnosis. It is then critical to share the prognosis and your expertise about what to expect for the course of the disease and the chances for recovery. An accurate prognosis will help patients determine their wishes. These goals may range from treatment by all means necessary to shorter term goals such as living long enough for a particular event (such as the birth of a child or a holiday) to comfort measures such as hospice. These goals of care along with your explanation as to what to expect will help determine the types of treatment a patient does or does not want to receive.

The 4Step iCare Plan HCP Conversation Assistant helps you engage your patients in a conversation about challenging medical decisions. It requires participation from both you and your patient or family decision-maker.