For Immediate Release

NEWS RELEASE

Contact: Joan Civile                                                                           
U.S. Living Will Registry
Phone: (908) 654-1441 Fax: (908) 654-1919
joan@uslivingwillregistry.com

U.S. Living Will Registry Provides
Advance Directive Solution to Sentara Health care

Westfield, New Jersey – (September 15, 2003) - The U.S. Living Will Registry today announced its agreement with Sentara Health care to provide management of advance directives to Sentara’s entire system.  The arrangement will allow all of Sentara’s health related facilities to retrieve and share advance directives 24 hours a day via the Internet.  Commonly known as living wills or health care proxies, advance directives allow people to maintain control over decisions about their care if they are incapacitated.  Federal and state regulations place the burden of managing these documents on health care providers, and keeping track of them efficiently has been an ongoing problem for providers.  The U.S. Living Will Registry electronically stores advance directives, organ donor and emergency contact information, eliminating the need for on-site storage and management by hospitals and health care providers.  The system allows any of Sentara’s  hospitals, nursing homes, physician’s offices and other care-giving sites to access documents instantly through a secure connection between the Registry and Sentara’s Intranet system.  The Registry’s computer design allows documents registered through one facility to be accessed by all of the other facilities in the system.  

Sentara began investigating the concept of an advance directive registry system two years ago.  “After considering the upfront financial investment needed to develop our own registry, we decided it was more cost effective to use the U.S. Living Will Registry.  We believe the Registry offers the best and most affordable system available,” said David A. Cochran of Sentara’s Chaplaincy Services.  “We were happy to help Sentara find a way to manage its advance directives,” said Dr. Joseph T. Barmakian, founder of the Registry.  “Because our service is flexible enough to handle a single doctor’s office or a national health care organization, we were able to provide a solution to fit Sentara’s specific needs,” he continued.  

Sentara Health care, a premier not-for-profit health care provider in southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, is comprised of 6 acute care hospitals, an extended recovery hospital, 2 outpatient care campuses, 7 nursing centers, 3 assisted living centers, and 25 primary care practices.  Sentara was ranked the number one integrated health care network in the United States in 2001 by Modern Health care magazine, and is the only health care system in the nation to be named in the top 10 for six consecutive years. For more information on Sentara Health care, visit www.sentara.com.  

The U.S. Living Will Registry is the leading provider of advance directive and organ donor registry services in the country.  Information about the Registry’s services can be obtained at www.uslivingwillregistry.com.
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