Sponsors (4)
The bill funds an independent study (with the potential for a national repository) to improve access and standardization of advance directives, trading better care coordination and policy guidance against heightened privacy risks, added taxpayer costs, and cross-jurisdictional legal complexity.
Patients (including those with chronic conditions) and seniors will have a single, secure place to store and retrieve advance directives and powers of attorney, making it easier for authorized agents and providers to access end-of-life wishes during care.
Hospitals, health systems, and patients will benefit from standardized definitions and best practices for locating and handling advance directives, which can speed decision-making and reduce confusion during medical care.
State governments (and federal policymakers) will receive independent expert analysis and a clear 2- and 4-year reporting timeline from the National Academies study to inform federal and state policy on advance directives and potential national systems.
People with disabilities, seniors, and others whose documents would be stored face increased privacy and data-security risks from creating a national repository of sensitive medical and legal information.
Taxpayers could bear new costs if the study leads to implementing and maintaining a national system, increasing administrative spending or requiring new appropriations.
State governments, hospitals, and patients could face legal and operational complexity because centralizing access may conflict with varied state laws and complicate authorization and recognition of advance directives and powers of attorney.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Directs HHS to commission a National Academies study on a national, secure, no-cost repository for individuals' advance directives and related "last wish" documents, with reports in 2 and 4 years.
Official title: To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to seek an agreement with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to conduct a study on establishing a system for storing last wish documents, and for other purposes.
Introduced October 28, 2025 by Thomas Suozzi · Last progress October 28, 2025
Requires the HHS Secretary to contract with the National Academies to study creating and running a national, confidential, secure system that would store people’s "last wish" documents (advance directives, living wills, powers of attorney, organ donor registrations, medical proxies) and allow authorized agents to retrieve them at no cost. The National Academies must report progress to HHS and Congress within 2 years and deliver final study results within 4 years of enactment.