Frequently Asked Hospice Questions

Hospice pays for the nursing, emotional, and spiritual care; hospice also pays for all medications, supplies, and medical equipment related to the terminal disease and any needed for palliation of symptoms.

Yes, hospice has normal business hours, but there is always a nurse available after hours for emergency needs.

You may go to the doctor, but the visits need to be coordinated by the hospice.

You may revoke your hospice benefit and then re-elect hospice at a later date.

Hospice does not provide a caregiver, we can assist with personal care, but hospice does not stay with the patient 24/7.

Visit frequency is determined by the Plan of Care, which is based on the patient’s needs, as the patient’s needs increase our team will come daily.

The hospice team is multi-disciplinary to include physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, social workers, chaplains, nurse’s aides, and volunteers; the only disciplines you have to have are the nurses and nurse practitioners/physicians.

Most health insurances have a hospice benefit, if you do have a commercial insurance there may be co-pay or deductible.  The benefit is completely covered for Medicare beneficiaries.

Yes, although the hospice medical director may encourage the patient to discontinue medications that are no longer useful in treating a disease process.

If approved by the hospice agency a patient may benefit from some chemotherapy and/ or radiation, not for curative reasons, but for comfort.  The treatments must be reviewed and approved by hospice before the patient can receive while on service.  Most patients forgo any further chemotherapy or radiation once they elect hospice.

Home health is designed for patients who need in-home rehab to get back to their functional baseline, it is short term, and the patient has to be home bound.  Hospice is for patients who have a life limiting condition and the goal is to keep the patient and family as comfortable as possible, the patient doesn’t have to be homebound and our goal is for the patient to live the rest of their life to the best of their ability.

Yes, if the primary care provider is the referring and attending to hospice services, if not, our medical director can manage care from admission.

A patient can receive hospice for as long as needed and they continue to qualify for services based on their insurance.

Depends on the patient, some patients cannot be left alone while others may be okay to be left alone.

It isn’t uncommon for patients to improve once they elect hospice.  Hospice manages symptoms which can increase the patient’s quality of life and make the patient feel better.

Palliative care is care for patients who have disease processes with no cure. The goal is to try and manage the disease and keep the patient out of the hospital; you may qualify for palliative care and hospice at the same time.

If you qualify for hospice general inpatient the patient’s insurance will pay for a short stay for symptom management, once symptoms are managed the patient will return home.  Depending on bed availability some patients may stay at the inpatient facility and privately pay room and board for short periods of time.