POST is the acronym for Physician Orders for Scope of Treatment. It is a creation of Michigan law and became effective on February 6, 2018. Completing a POST is optional, not mandatory. Although it sounds similar, is not a Health Care Power of Attorney nor is it an advance directive or living will.
Rather, it sets forth medical treatment orders which have been issued by an “attending health professional” to which the patient or the patient’s “patient representative” consent. Usually medical treatment orders are issued by a treating health professional without consent signed by the patient. The only patients for whom a POST is appropriate are adults with an advanced illness or another medical condition that, despite available curative therapies or modulation, compromises his or her health so as to make death within 1 year foreseeable though not a specific or predicted prognosis. A POST only applies to treatment settings outside of a hospital.
