
California’s Epple Act to Long-Term Care Patient Representative Program: Solution to Nursing Home and Intermediate Care Facility Mentally Incapacitated Residents’ Care Gaps
BY PAUL BORJA, RN, DNP, EdD, PhD, PHN, CCM, ACM-RN, CMAC, CMCN, CNML, CMGT-BC, CDONA, FACDONA, FAACM
Healthcare decision-making is always optimal when coming from the patient. However, if the patient cannot make those decisions, a surrogate decisionmaker would be the following route to obtain medical decisions for care planning. But what happens when no family, friends, dedicated decision-maker or power of attorney exists?