Advance care planning consultations are voluntary conversations between a medical provider and a patient — along with their family members or other caregivers, if they wish — to discuss what medical care the patient would like if they were to become unable to make real-time decisions about their care.[efn_note]”Advance Care Planning” CMS.gov. Accessed Oct. 2, 2024[/efn_note] Starting in 2016, under new HHS regulations that were finalized in 2015, Medicare began paying doctors for end-of-life consultations.[efn_note]”10 FAQs: Medicare’s Role in End-of-Life Care” KFF.org. Sep. 26, 2016[/efn_note]