Iowa Substitute Decision Making Initiative
The NHLP Resource Center’s new initiative on substitute decision making is directed at strengthening and improving the formulation and implementation of public policies and laws with respect to substitute decision making in order to assist and protect older Iowans and other Iowans who suffer impairment of their decision making capacity. This initiative is in part a response to the de-funding of the Iowa Office of Substitute Decision maker.
To read more, click here.
Background
Iowans, especially older Iowans, whose decision making capacity is impaired due to dementia or other conditions, may need a substitute or surrogate decision maker to make decisions about matters such as health care, personal care and finances. Iowa law recognizes several types and forms of substitute decision making and makers: the advance directives which includes living wills, health care powers of attorney and out-of-hospital do-not-resuscitate orders (OOH-DNR), representative payees, financial powers of attorney, guardianships and conservatorships.
If you wish to learn more about each of these different kinds of substitute making , read A Guide For Substitute Decision Making In Iowa, click here.
Services
Information Clearinghouse
The NHLP Resource Center maintains an information clearinghouse for Iowans with questions about substitute decision making in Iowa. We welcome questions about substitute decision making. To contact us click here. This website also contains links to Iowa laws regarding substitute decision making and it contains links to laws and resources about substitute decision making in general as well as in Iowa.
To view Links to the Substitute Decision Making Laws, Publications, and Resources, click here.
Education and Training
The NHLP Resource Center offers a variety of education and training opportunities to individuals and groups interested in learning more about substitute decision making in Iowa. The Resource Center offers courses, workshops seminars and Resource Center staff make presentations specifically tailored to the needs of sponsoring groups.
To contact us, click here.
Research
The Center is conducting externally funded research examining the need for public guardianship services in Iowa and research on power of attorney abuse in Iowa. The product of this research will be a report containing recommendations for improving the legal framework for substitute decision making in Iowa.
News
NHLP Director/Associate Director Comment on Need of Assistance for State’s Incapacitated Adults
“The state office that was eliminated by Culver and the Legislature last spring was called the Office of Substitute Decision Maker… Its mission was to assist some of the 45,000 Iowans who need guardians, conservators or advocates to help with decisions on their living arrangements, medical care and finances.”
NHLP Resource Center Launches Iowa Substitute Decision Making Initiative
Iowans, especially older Iowans, whose decision making capacity is impaired due to dementia or other conditions, may need a substitute or surrogate decision maker to make decisions about matters such as health care, personal care and finances. The National Health Law and Policy Resource Center’s new initiative on substitute decision making is directed at strengthening and improving the formulation and implementation of public policies and laws to assist and protect older Iowans and other Iowans who suffer impairment of their decision making capacity.
Iowa Office of Substitute Decision Maker Defunded
During the 2009 legislative session, the Iowa General Assembly, facing budget shortfalls, cut the budgets of state agencies, including the Department on Aging (formerly the Department of Elder Affairs). As a result the Office of Substitute Decision Maker, which was established as a unit of the Department of Aging in 2007, lost its funding and ceased operations on July 1, 2009. In the short period from 2007 to 2009, it compiled a record of significant accomplishments. It was a major source of information to Iowans seeking assistance with problems concerning substitute decision making; it provided education about substitute decision making to Iowans, and it intervened on behalf of older Iowans and other Iowans lacking, or alleging lacking, decision making capacity, in guardianship and conservatorship proceedings in Probate Court.