Hospice Defined by Medicare

Medicare defines hospice as care provided to patients who, due to a terminaml illness, “have a medical prognosis that his or her life expectancy is 6 months or less if the illness runs its normal course.” However, a medical prognosis is an educated prediction of the course of an illness. Physicians cannot predict a lifespan with complete certainty; therefore, many hospice patients may live well beyond the initial 6‐month prognosis.

What is Hospice

Hospice care is best when it can enter a patient’s life early, at the time a terminal illness is diagnosed. Our services are fully covered by Medicare, Medicaid and most private insurance programs with pre-approval.

Hospice uses a team approach for providing quality medical care, pain management, and emotional support for individuals and their families facing a life-limiting illness. Hospice care is palliative, allowing patients to spend their remaining days in comfort and dignity, focusing on living.

What Makes Hospice Different?

Hospice offers palliative, or comfort care, rather than curative treatment. The focus is on pain and symptom control which allows the patient to live as fully and comfortably as possible.

Hospice emphasizes quality, rather than length of life. Hospice neither hastens nor postpones death; it affirms life and understands that dying is a natural part of the cycle of life.

Hospice treats the person, not the disease. The hospice interdisciplinary team cares for the medical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual needs of the person and family.

Hospice comes to you. Hospice care is provided at home, including nursing homes and assisted living residences—wherever home is.

Hospice is always on call. For hospice patients and their families, assistance is just a phone call away, 24‐hours‐a‐day, seven days a week.

Hospice continues to care for the family by providing grief counseling, even after the death of the patient.