Advance Care Planning (ACP) is an ongoing process of learning about the choices someone has relative to future medical care. 

ACP discussions can be very different, depending on an individual’s current health.  Someone who is generally healthy needs to explore what kind of life-sustaining treatments they would want if suddenly they became incapacitated and their condition was not likely to improve. Someone with a chronic illness may want to think about what healthcare treatments they would choose to receive if their condition got worse. Individuals facing the end of life must communicate to their loved ones what they want their final months, weeks or days to be like. 

For each of these individuals, the advance care planning process is similar and includes: