Many years ago, I helped found an organization called the Life Care Planning Law Firms Association. Since then many companies have tried to mimic what law firms do, often with disastrous consequences. Recently, we ran across a website that appears to be different and might actually be helpful. It’s called CareTree.me. This website says it creates a HIPAA compliant, centralized and shareable record portal for care planning. We haven’t tried it yet, but the website says it’s free for families. Professionals pay a fee which, apparently, is not disclosed until you agree to a demonstration. Deeper exploration of the website gives us pause because, in some ways it looks like a marketing platform non-lawyers could use to claim they can serve as a patient advocate. Time will tell regarding whether the website is more than a marketing platform.

What appears to be different about this website is that it’s not an attempt to claim it can do everything for everyone. Lawyers, for example, have the ability to go to court and enforce a patient’s rights. That’s where most non-lawyers fail. Not only are most non-lawyers ignorant of the patient’s rights, but even if they know someone’s legal rights, most non-lawyers are toothless tigers because they cannot represent you in court. However, facilitating communication is in everyone’s best interests and to the extent that’s what this website claims it can do, then it has value. We will be watching and if you have experience with this company, we’d love to hear from you.