by Karl Steinberg, MD, CMD

In an unexpected but welcome development, the California Medical Association's House of Delegates, on the recommendation of their Board of Trustees, overwhelmingly approved a resolution at their annual meeting in San Diego in early December that supports the expansion of who can sign POLST orders to include nurse practitioners and physician assistants.  Many states, including Oregon (where the POLST form originated over 20 years ago) already allow non-physician providers to sign POLSTs, and no problems have been identified. CALTCM has supported this position and will be supportive of any legislation that allows this to move forward.  

It appears that CMA is considering taking this recommendation to a the California legislature to have a bill sponsored that would be required to move this initiative forward.  The Coalition for Compassionate Care of California will also be participating in the proposed legislation.

Another POLST-related resolution passed uncontroversially, which recommended that CMA support the development of an electronic registry for POLST forms statewide.

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