Colorado MOST
Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment
The Colorado MOST (Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment) form is part of the National POLST Program (Portable Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment), which promotes standardized, patient-directed medical orders across the United States. The Center for Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Colorado School of Medicine is pleased to be Colorado MOST's administrative home as of summer 2025.
The MOST process helps ensure that care aligns with a patient’s values and goals, even in urgent or complex medical situations. It empowers patients and their care teams to make informed, values-based decisions that are respected throughout the healthcare system.
MOST is intended for patients with serious, life-limiting conditions, including advanced frailty, who are at risk for life-threatening clinical events. It documents a patient’s treatment preferences as medical orders, helping guide care across all settings. Completing a MOST form is entirely voluntary. Under Colorado law (C.R.S. 15-18.7-108), no healthcare facility may require a patient to complete one as a condition of admission or treatment.
GET INVOLVED: MOST program volunteers meet remotely quarterly. Email Colorado's MOST program leader or call 720-314-0871 if you are interested in participating.
See below for answers to common questions, links to the MOST forms and detailed guidance for individuals and professionals.
ABOUT
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
The MOST program welcomes inquiries from patients and their loved ones and healthcare providers. If you don’t find an answer to your question below, email Colorado’s MOST program leader or call 720-314-0871.
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FOR INDIVIDUALS AND CAREGIVERS
A good place to start is watching the 10-minute “MOST Video for Patients and Families” (in the Planning Tools tab at right) and looking at the MOST form, both under the Resources – Patients and Loved Ones tab. You might want to review
previous documents like your advance directives.
Next, talk with your healthcare provider about your medical condition, treatment options, expected outcomes and what you want. You should have sufficient time for a conversation so it is advisable to notify the practice when you make an appointment that you would like to talk about the MOST form. Family members or other people who are close to you should be a part of the conversation, too.
Remember: A MOST form is not appropriate for a healthy person.
After all your initial questions are answered – and before completing the form – you may want to go home and think about the form's choices and talk with family and friends. Or, you may know how you want to complete the form after talking with your healthcare provider.
You are allowed to complete only one or two of the sections but be aware that maximum treatment will be provided in blank sections. The demographic information at the top right of the form and the back of the form must be completed.
The final step is communicating you have a MOST form. Your MOST form communicates your wishes as medical orders that must be followed by healthcare providers, including EMS and emergency room staff.
A MOST form tells healthcare providers what you want:
- “Yes, attempt resuscitation (CPR)” or “No, don’t attempt resuscitation (CPR)”
- “Take me to the hospital” or “I want to stay here if I can be comfortable”
- “These are the medical treatments I want”
- "Avoid admitting me to ICU"
The MOST form must be signed at the bottom by you or your legal representative if you are no longer making your medical decisions and your healthcare provider – a physician, advanced practice nurse practitioner or physician assistant.
Although not a requirement, it is highly recommended to copy the form on the distinctive bright green paper. See the back of the form for the name of the paper. (Copies, scans and faxes are as valid as the original.)
The form should be posted in a prominent place, like the refrigerator door, at your residence or your care communities' records.
You may want to carry a copy of the form when you are away from home. Be sure to notify family and friends of the form's location so they can give it to EMS if you are unable.
The form belongs to you; it is your property. Your healthcare provider should make a copy of the form. Colorado does not have an electronic registry – yet – which means EMS does not have access to your form unless it is given to them when they respond.
Remember to review your MOST form regularly, including if your health changes, to see if you want to make any changes after a conversation with your healthcare provider. Write VOID in big letters and sign and date the old form and complete a new one to avoid confusion.
FOR HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS
Since it became a law in 2010, the MOST Program – a conversation about end-of-life wishes by a healthcare professional followed by completion of a MOST form if desired – has been used by thousands who wish to make their end-of-life decisions known.
The program is voluntary and people cannot be required to have a MOST form but if they choose to document their wishes, by law, those choices must be honored. It is essential that healthcare professionals understand the MOST Program, including proper completion of the form to ensure its validity.
As a healthcare professional, you likely will encounter Colorado's Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment form. You may counsel seriously ill or frail patients at high risk of a life-threatening medical event about documenting their end-of-life wishes. You might review a completed MOST form with a resident or their legal decision-maker to ensure it continues to represent their choices. You could be presented with a MOST form that will direct you in an emergency.
Furthermore, patients depend on healthcare professionals to explain their options as well as offering practical tips for the MOST form's use, such as posting it in a prominent location that can easily be seen by first responders, carrying a copy when they are away from home and telling their loved ones who can present the form in an emergency since Colorado does not have a registry yet.
You may be asked by a healthy person to complete a MOST form.
The form is not intended for a healthy person. Read the “Avoiding Premature Completion of MOST Form” article to learn more.
MOST Video for Health Care Professionals - 40 minutes
10 Tips to Help Care Communities Use the MOST Form Correctly
Advance Directives Regulatory Requirements
Acknowledgment of Advance Directives Notice
Avoiding Premature Completion of MOST Form article
Quality Assurance Toolkits for healthcare facilities from National POLST
Quality Indicator Toolkits (from National POLST for health care facilities)
Supplemental Review Form – Use to document dates of review when back of MOST form is full
Training for Assisted Living and Skilled Nursing/Long-Term Care Communities
Which Document Prevails In Case of Direct Conflict in Instructions?
See also: FAQs, Forms and Patient Planning Tools in the Individuals sections above
Alissa Schramm
MOST Program State Leader
Colorado Representative to National POLST Collaborative
Compass Elder Care Specialists, Inc., Owner
Geriatric Care Manager (Aging Life Care Manager)
[email protected]
720-314-0871
Chelsey Patten, DBe, HEC-C
Director for Clinical Ethics
University of Colorado School of Medicine
Center for Bioethics and Humanities
Assistant Professor | General Internal Medicine
[email protected]
303-724-5832