FAQs
What is Hospice?
Hospice is a special concept of care focused on providing comfort, relieving pain, and offering support for persons with life-limiting health conditions and their families. Our focus is on compassionate care that enables patients to continue alert, paint free life surrounded by loved ones.
Hospice provides pain and symptom relief, as well as emotional and spiritual support, typically within the last six to twelve months of life.
What is Palliative Care?
Palliative care is specialized medical care for people living with a serious illness. This type of care is focused on providing relief from the symptoms and stress of the illness. The goal is to improve quality of life for both the patient and the family.
Palliative care is provided by a specially trained team of doctors, nurses and other specialist who work together with a patient's other doctor to provide an extra layer of support. Palliative care is based on the needs of the patient, not on the patient's prognosis. It is appropriate at an age and at any stage in a serious illness, and it can be provided along with curative treatment.
Who pays for Hospice?
The cost associated with the hospice care are generally covered by Medicare Hospice Benefit, this covers the range of medical and supportive services that are deemed reasonable and necessary for managing a person's illness. Most state Medicaid programs offer hospice coverage, as do most private health insurance plan.
Eligibility for Hospice Care
To be eligible for hospice, patient must have a life limiting illness such as cancer, heart disease, stroke, end-stage Alzheimer's, or any other condition with a life expectancy of six months or less.