About Us
We are passionate about helping people make informed decisions about their health care and ensuring their decisions are understood and honored by their loved ones and care team.
Our Story
How we got here
Our company was founded by John Walsh and Steve Jackson, two longtime friends and colleagues who both had experiences with serious illness and how the care people get doesn’t always match what is important to the person.
Before there was Honor My Decisions, the Alpha-1 Foundation (a healthcare charity for people with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, a genetic disorder) funded a project at the University of Florida’s medical school to create an interactive tool to help people communicate their end-of-life wishes. John, who headed up the foundation, recognized that there was an opportunity to bring easy, meaningful advance care planning (ACP) to a wider group of people.
In 2015, John and Steve teamed up to commercialize the University of Florida project as Honor My Decisions. What started out as a simple tablet-based application to capture a Florida advance directive has evolved and grown into a cloud-based enterprise ACP software-as-a-service that covers all 50 states.
Whether it’s through family doctors, healthcare systems, health plans, or employers, we have a way for people to pick someone they trust to be their health care champion, make informed decisions about their care, capture their values and health care priorities, legally document and share their wishes, and make sure everyone on their care team knows what medical treatments they want and don’t want.
People should have a voice in their health care.
We make it simple for people to make informed decisions about their health care and share them with their loved ones and care team, so they are understood and honored.
Guiding Principles
- Advance care planning is an important way for people to have a voice in their health care when they can no longer speak for themselves.
- It can help healthcare teams deliver compassionate care that preserves human dignity and aligns with a person’s values.
- Making advance care plans and discussing these issues should be normal for all adults (regardless of their health status) and should be supported at all stages of life with relevant, meaningful planning activities.
- Advance care planning is more than an advance directive or POLST document and includes thinking about, discussing, and sharing values and priorities.
- It should be a deliberative, informed process that is supported with appropriate education and resources.
- People own their advance care plan (not the healthcare system) and it should be both easy to find and for the person to make changes over time as their preferences evolve.
Our History
How we evolved and grew
2015 – 2016
Focused on hospitals and large healthcare systems.
- Inital Pilot: Carolinas HealthCare System (now Atrium Health)
- Video Pilot: Mayo Clinic
- iPad app only
2017 – 2019
Expanded to support payor reimbursable ACP.
- Added a suite of tools for team delivery of consistent, high-quality ACP sessions to generate practice revenue
- Developed training programs for clinicians and front desk
- Expanded support for ACP as part of Annual Wellness Visits
- Integrated with major EHRs
- Developed cloud-based enterprise ACP software-as-service
2020 – present
Innovated in response to the pandemic.
- Developed telehealth ACP
- Created employee benefits ACP for employees and their families
- Partnered with healthcare solution vendors with new delivery models
Experts
Meet our senior team
We’re experienced healthcare, technology, education, and engagement professionals who work every day to help make sure people have a voice in their health care.
Steve Jackson
CEO & Managing Partner
Anne Yastremki, MAS-PHM
CMO & VP Population Health Strategy
Kevin Williams
CTO
Angela Kalmanash, MBA
VP Business Development
Steve Himes, MBA
Regional Client Advocate
Doug Barker, MBA
Advisor: Charities & NGOs
John Bryant, MD
Advisor: Family Medicine, IPAs, and ACOs
Jeff Farr
Advisor: Healthcare & Public Sector
Tim Garrett, MBA
Advisor: HR & Employee Benefits
Tom Inman
Advisor: Home Healthcare & Business Strategy
Atul Jain, MD
Advisor: Healthcare Consulting Groups
Kathleen Kaney, DrPH
Advisor: Large Healthcare System Operations
Ray Moseley, PhD
Advisor: Bioethics
John Richert, MD
Advisor: Pharma & Healthcare NGOs
Need help?
Hi! We’re technology and education professionals with healthcare backgrounds who have all personally experienced the importance of advance care planning. The Alpha-1 Foundation is a part owner of our company. By using our services, you help their mission to find a cure for alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency and help people breathe.
Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have a question about our services or need help with your advance care planning. Our support team will quickly connect you with the right person.
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