Select Page

Health Tips

by | Jun 10, 2019 | Health Tips

*Tips are not legal advice.
 

This is a VERY important basket and we suggest that you carefully spend time here. This is the only basket that will be instantly available to your loved ones in an emergency (while the others take 24 hours to show)

What Eggs Should I Add?

We have pre-populated a list of possible items to include but that’s certainly not the ONLY information you can keep here.

Here’s our list of options along with a brief overview (where applicable).

  • Medical Insurance – If you have a medical insurance policy, then it’s worth making note of here. If you have more than one policy, then you may want to add another egg but make note of their respective purposes.
  • Dental Insurance – If you have a policy, go ahead and add it here.
  • Vision Insurance – List it if you’ve got it. This is mostly just valuable as a place to keep your data
  • LTDI Insurance – If you have something for Long Term Disability (either through work or third-party) then mention it here.
  • Doctor / Caregiver – If you have a consistent General Practitioner / Family Doc. / Specialist… we suggest making a separate egg per person.
  • Prescription – If you want to keep track of these at all, it’s primarily useful for yourself OR if you’re incapacitated and your loved ones need to find quick info. You can add just one prescription egg and then make note (in notes or as separate attached info cards) of your various prescriptions OR you can create a separate egg per prescription.
  • DNR – if you have a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate), then it’s helpful to have it here so it’s easy to access for your loved ones. If you do not have one and are interested in learning more or seeing a sample, here’s one prepared by the state of California – CA SAMPLE DNR. We highly recommend that you consult with your physician and/or attorney with regard to these important documents.
  • POLST – if you have a POLST (Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment), then this is a perfect spot for it. A POLST outlines your care preferences. If you do not have one and are interested in learning more or seeing a sample, here’s one prepared by the state of California – CA SAMPLE POLST. We highly recommend that you consult with your physician and/or attorney with regard to these important documents.
  • Advanced Directive – An advanced Medical Directive is simply a document that outlines your preferences for care/treatment. The DNR and POLST (above) are two examples. There’s also a living will (referenced in the legal basket since it can apply to more than just healthcare) and a medical power of attorney that could fit under this category. Choose this from the pull down if you want to attach a file or Info Card and specify in the notes what sort of directive it is. A note on Advanced Directives (including DNR and POLST) – there may be state or local laws that effect what you can/should do. We always recommend consulting your physician and/or attorney.
  • Medical POA – As mentioned above, a Medical Power of Attorney fits under the umbrella of Advanced Medical Directive. If you have set this up, then you can create an egg here to keep track of it.
  • Other – If there’s anything else you want to track in the Health Basket, then go for it.

 

What Files & Info Cards Should I Add?

Anything that you can think of that pertains to your health or your treatment preferences would be good to store in the Health Basket. Obviously, the Info Cards are where you keep track of online accounts, files, medical insurance record numbers, pictures of your insurance card, notes about providers, etc. Some things should be obvious – if you want to track a policy, you could attach a file WITH the policy info itself and/or an Info Card that points to the online account associated with the management of that policy.

Likewise, if you’ve got Advanced Directives, you’ll want to attach files or Info Cards that will help you (or your loved ones in a pinch) quickly find that data.

 

What Extra Information Should I leave in Case of Emergency?

Remember that THIS IS THE ONLY BASKET YOUR LOVED ONES WILL SEE FOR THE FIRST DAY so spend enough time in this basket for it to be useful to them. Here’s how it works:

  1. When a loved one (KeyHolder) uses their key to access your Eggacy they will have instant access to your Health Basket. The idea is that, in an emergency, they could need POLST documentation to help deal with treatment.
  2. Simultaneously, a string of emails go out – one to you (in case there’s not actually an emergency – giving you 24 hours to log in and re-lock your account) and one to all your other KeyHolders so they can be on the same page (helping each other).
  3. For 24 hours the only basket your loved ones will have access to is your Health Basket. After that time, if you have not logged in to re-lock your account, then the rest of your Baskets will become visible to your loved ones (View-only so they can’t edit anything and excluding your KeyHolder and love-notes baskets since those are private only to you).

If there’s additional information you want to add that is specific to the way your loved ones use the information in this basket, then we recommend adding that information to the egg notes.

 

Tips for Reconciling:

We are so sorry for your emergency (or your loss)!

We recommend that you start with triage – if there’s an urgent matter pertaining to the treatment/care/wishes of your loved one, then skim through the eggs and look for whatever is going to be useful. Perhaps there are advanced directives, or contact information for a primary caregiver who’ll be able to help?

Beyond that, take your time to assess the contents of your loved one’s Eggacy Basket(s) and take action as needed. Eventually, you’ll want to contact any Insurance policy to let them know the latest. And, finally, you may want to contact an attorney (not just medical professionals) depending on the situation. Remember that the legal basket (which may include contact information for the attorney) will be available 24-hours after the emergency access process has been initiated.

 

*Tips are provided to simply kick-start your thinking. They are NOT legal advice and we recommend that you consult an attorney if you have any questions about estate planning or living trusts or any such matters.