Allegheny Health Network (AHN) announced today a partnership with advance care planning technology provider, Vynca, to further assist patients and their families with end-of-life care decisions.

AHN will be the first health care provider in the state of Pennsylvania to implement Vynca's technology for assessing and electronically recording end-of-life care wishes of patients.

End-of-life medical orders are documented on Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) forms, which allow patients to formally establish their future health care preferences should they be unable to speak for themselves. POLST forms are typically carried with the patient from one care setting to the next.

Because POLST forms are not always easily or quickly accessible to medical staff, patients at the end-of-life stage are at risk of receiving undesired health interventions.

Vynca's platform ensures advance care planning documents, including POLST forms, reflect patients' most up-to-date preferences and are quickly available to health care providers across health care settings including primary care, nursing homes, or specialty clinics. When patients have a conversation with their clinician and caregivers about their options, advance care planning documents are electronically completed, including electronic signature, on a patient, family member, or clinical smartphone or electronic device. All documents can then be electronically accessed across all care settings via Vynca's platform.

"Our partnership with Vynca is an important step in ensuring patients' wishes are being honored in a way that has not been previously possible in health care," said Emily Jaffe, MD, director of post-acute care, AHN. "With this technology and partnership, we're able to better curate and access our patients' medical plans, resulting in a higher quality of care for end-of-life patients and peace of mind for their families."

"We are pleased to partner with AHN to support their goals of engaging patients in planning for future care preferences," said Ryan Van Wert, MD, CEO of Vynca. "By ensuring advance care planning documents are accurately completed and electronically available, we'll help AHN provide personalized, patient-centered, goal-driven care across all health care settings."

About the Allegheny Health Network

Allegheny Health Network (AHN.org), a Highmark Health company, is an integrated healthcare delivery system serving the greater Western Pennsylvania region. The Network is composed of eight hospitals, including Allegheny General Hospital, its flagship academic medical center in Pittsburgh, Allegheny Valley Hospital in Natrona Heights, Canonsburg Hospital in Canonsburg, Forbes Hospital in Monroeville, Jefferson Hospital in Jefferson Hills, Saint Vincent Hospital in Erie, West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh and Westfield Memorial Hospital in Westfield, NY. The Network provides patients with access to a complete spectrum of advanced medical services, including nationally recognized programs for primary and emergency care, cardiovascular disease, cancer care, orthopaedic surgery, neurology and neurosurgery, women's health, diabetes and more. It also is home to a comprehensive research institute; Health Wellness Pavilions; an employed physician organization, home and community based health services and a group purchasing organization. The Network employs approximately 20,000 people, has more than 2,400 physicians on its medical staff and serves as a clinical campus for Drexel University College of Medicine, Temple University School of Medicine, and the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine.

About Vynca

Vynca, based in Palo Alto, Calif., provides comprehensive advance care planning technology solutions that enable health care organizations to deliver high-quality end-of-life care consistent with an individual's preferences. The company helps patients, families and health care providers have meaningful conversations about future care preferences, ensure that wishes are documented accurately, and provides real-time access to this critical information throughout the care continuum.

Vynca is also the leading solution provider for state advance care planning registries, having first partnered with the Oregon POLST Registry to develop a bi-directional electronic interface for health care organizations in Oregon. It is also the technology vendor for the California POLST eRegistry Pilot, the Delaware DMOST Registry, the Louisiana LaPOST Registry, and the South Carolina Registry. For more information, visit www.vyncahealth.com. Follow Vynca on LinkedIn and Twitter @VyncaHealth.