The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Executive Office of Health and Human Services
Department of Public Health
Office of Emergency Medical Services
2 Boylston Street, 3rd Floor
Boston, MA 02116
Tel. (617) 753-7300
Fax: (617) 753-7320
www.mass.gov/dph/oems

MITT ROMNEY
GOVERNOR
KERRY HEALEY
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
TIMOTHY R. MURPHY
SECRETARY
PAUL J. COTE, Jr.
COMMISSIONER	
TO:	MA Licensed Ambulance Services
	EMCAB Members
FROM:	Abdullah Rehayem, Acting Director
RE:		Comfort Care Program Update
DATE:		January 3, 2007
________________________________________________________________________

	The Department is updating the Comfort Care program to improve accessibility and use of the Comfort Care/Do Not Resuscitate (CC/DNR) form, as well as to facilitate ambulance services’ and EMTs’ transporting patients with CC/DNR forms between and back to health care facilities. As of January 22, 2007, there are three changes going into effect:

1.	Website access to the form: The CC/DNR form will be accessible for download from the Department’s Office of Emergency Medical Services (OEMS) website, at www.mass.gov/dph/oems. Anyone will be able to obtain the form from the website; however, it must still be printed out, completed in full and signed by an authorized physician, or authorized nurse practitioner, in accordance with instructions on the form and in the Comfort Care Protocol, Appendix B of the Statewide Treatment Protocols.
2.	No more bracelets: The Department will no longer be supplying bracelets. The downloadable CC/DNR form will come with the same narrow strip bracelet inserts attached, as an option for use in return-trip transports, but the Department will not provide the plastic bracelets. 
3.	Copies acceptable: The CC/DNR form that is downloaded from the website may be copied, and ambulance services and their EMTs can accept a copy of a CC/DNR form as an equal to the original.

The Department intends to post the CC/DNR form and the revised explanatory documents about the Comfort Care/Do Not Resuscitate program, including the revised Protocol, on January 22, 2007. If you have any questions about the three changes, please contact me at 617-753-7300.