Resources

Unlocking Hospice Myths

A serious illness raises so many questions, but not all answers are correct. Below we have listed some common myths about hospice, followed by explanations clarifying how the hospice benefit really works.

Myth: Hospice is expensive.

Truth: Hospice is 100% covered by Medicare, Medicaid, and most commercial insurances.

This means that expenses related to the terminal illness (e.g. medications, supplies, and equipment) are included with little or no out-of-pocket costs.

Myth: Hospice is a place.

Truth: Hospice is not a place – services are provided wherever the patient calls home. 

Hospice brings physical, emotional, and spiritual care and support to wherever patients call home. This can be a personal residence, nursing home, assisted living facility, hospital, or other location of choice. It’s truly about meeting patients where they are with the care that’s right for them. In the United States, most hospice care is delivered in the home, though inpatient care is also available in hospitals, nursing homes, and special settings.

Myth: When electing hospice, a person must give up their regular physician.

Truth: We support the patient’s choice of physician.

The patient makes the decision as to who oversees the care plan. In many cases, the family physician continues in this role with the support and assistance of the hospice Medical Director.

Myth: Patients must stop all current treatments to receive hospice care.

Truth: We accept patients who are receiving medical treatments as long as they are eligible for and accepting of hospice care. 

Hospice doesn’t mean giving up hope or current treatments. we recognize the importance of hope, faith, empowerment, and options for each patient and their family.

Myth: Electing hospice means I’m no longer in control.

Truth: Hospice is about options, empowerment, and hope for comfort and peace at the end of life. 

We recognize that every person’s experience will be different, and the hospice team creates a plan of care according to each patient’s individual needs and wishes. This ensures that the patient receives the care that’s right for them in the way they wish to receive it. Hospice is not about giving up control or hope – it’s about looking at the options and choosing what’s appropriate for you or your loved one.

Myth: The Medicare hospice benefit lasts only six months.

Truth: We conduct ongoing eligibility assessments with all patients on service. Our teams will continue to serve patients as long as they remain eligible.

The benefit requires a life expectancy of six months or less if the terminal illness or disease runs its normal course, according to the physician’s best clinical judgment. Recognizing that making these judgments is not an exact science, the Medicare regulations allow for the possibility that hospice services may be needed for more than six months. Hospice is a lifetime benefit, and a patient may continue to receive service as long as he or she is eligible. Some patients improve to the point where they no longer have a 6-month prognosis and are discharged from our care. They may be readmitted when their condition again makes them eligible.

Myth: Hospice only provides care and support for the patient.

Truth: Hospice care is designed to support the entire family.

It is the mission of hospice staff to walk side-by-side with patients and offer support, not only for physical symptoms but also for emotional and spiritual needs. This support extends to family members, and hospice helps them cope with their own unique emotional and spiritual concerns. In addition, we offer bereavement services to families for 13 months following the loss of a loved one.

Myth: All hospices are the same.

Truth: Hospice providers have different philosophies of care. We accept all eligible adult patients, regardless of their advance directive choices, the complexity of medical needs, or caregiver arrangements. 

Similar to hospitals, physicians, and other professional services, all hospices are not the same. Hospice providers have different levels of expertise, philosophies of care, and approaches to supporting patients and families.

Myth: Hospice only helps patients during the last week of life.

Truth: Hospice is not just for the last few days or weeks of life. This service is designed to provide care for a patient’s last six months.

Care is focused on maintaining dignity, increasing quality of life, and providing comfort, including pain and symptom control. This means that patients should elect hospice as soon as they are eligible so that they can live in comfort and peace. Since the course of a life-limiting illness is not always predictable, however, hospice is a lifetime benefit that can be renewed for as long as a patient is certified to be eligible.

Myth: Hospice is only for cancer patients.

Truth: Hospice is for anyone with a life expectancy of six months or less if the terminal illness or disease runs its normal course. 

Individuals who die from cancer are more likely to choose hospice care than those who die from other conditions, but hospice is being elected by an increasing number of terminally ill patients with non-cancer diagnoses, such as liver disease, dementia, congestive heart failure, chronic lung disease, kidney disease, and others.

Myth: The patient and family must be “ready” for hospice or “ready” to accept the patient’s impending death to receive hospice care.

Truth: We accept all eligible adult patients and their families whether or not they are ready to accept the prognosis.

It’s truly about meeting patients where they are with the care that’s right for them. The patient must be aware that hospice’s purpose is not to cure but to care. Because of its multi-faceted approach through physical, emotional, and spiritual care, the hospice team is able to walk this journey with patients and respond to their unique, individual needs. The psychosocial support extends to the families and also includes bereavement services for up to 13 months following the loss of their loved one.

Hospice Frequently Asked Questions

What does Hospice provide?

Hospice care is designed to provide support for any patient who is no longer responding to curative treatment. Hospice care focuses on your comfort and provides a better quality of life, with the goal to enable you to have an alert, pain-free life and live each day as fully as possible.

What kind of care is included in Hospice?

  1. Pain control and symptom management
  2. Skilled nursing medications and medical supplies
  3. 24/7 on-call nurses
  4. Psych and social support
  5. Spiritual counseling
  6. Bathing/ home health aide services

Who qualifies for Hospice care?

  • Take a quiz to find out if you qualify for hospice
  • A physician must certify the patient is terminally ill with a life expectancy of six months or less if the disease takes its normal course.  Additionally, the patient must choose to elect the hospice benefit.

Who pays for Hospice?

Medicare beneficiaries with a terminal illness do not usually have to pay for hospice care as it is 100% covered Medicare benefit. Additionally, most hospice patients have their costs covered by their insurance plan, including Medicaid/Medi-cal, the VA, and most commercial insurances.

How often are Hospice visits?

The frequency of hospice visits is based on the patient’s needs and goals for care. As a result, no two patients and no two plans of care are identical.  Typically, the number of visits increases as the patient’s needs and illnesses progresses.

What do Hospice clinicians do during their visits?

Hospice care focuses on a patient’s comfort and provides a better quality of life, with the goal to enable a patient to have an alert, pain-free life and live each day as fully as possible.

Do Medicare and insurance cover Hospice Care?

Yes. Hospice services are 100% covered by Medicare Part A. They are also covered by Medicaid in most states, as well as many other private or managed care insurances.

What is the difference between home health and hospice?

Home Health Care Hospice care
What is it? At-home services, such as nursing, therapy, and support, help patients recover with independence in a safe environment. End of life compassionate care including clinical, emotional, and spiritual care for patients and their families.
Who is it for? Patients dealing with serious or chronic illnesses and those recovering from an injury or surgery – especially those looking to stay in their own home and avoid future hospital visits. Patients with a life expectancy of six months or less (if the disease runs its normal course).
Who pays for it? We are Medicare certified and work directly with multiple insurance companies. Most insurances, including Medicare, provide these services at no cost to the patient or family. This all-inclusive benefit is covered 100%by Medicare. Similarly, most private insurance companies cover hospice services with no co-pays or out-of-pocket costs for the patient or family.

Learn the Right Care at the End of Life

Hospice Care Can’t Wait: Know the importance of months, weeks, or even days of hospice care for patients and caregivers.

Months

Hospice will help address:

  • Frequent medication changes
  • Weight loss
  • Increasing weakness/ lethargy
  • Frequent falls
  • Recurring infections
  • Skin breakdown
  • Shortness of breath
  • Support for self-care and ADLs

 

Months of hospice care will help patients and/or caregivers to:

  • Have a higher quality of life
  • Be actively involved in the plan of care and decisions
  • Understand and anticipate physical, emotional, and spiritual changes and needs
  • Organize personal affairs and “unfinished business”

Weeks

Hospice will help help address:

  • Frequent medication changes
  • Worsening or unrelieved pain and other symptoms
  • Greater assistance needed with ADLs
  • Appetite loss
  • Increased phone calls to the physician

 

Weeks of hospice care will help patients and/or caregivers to:

  • Manage pain and symptoms
  • Understand physiologicalchanges
  • Help decide next steps
  • Experience less caregiver fatigue
  • Cope with anticipatory grief
  • Reduce ER and hospital admissions
  • Make afterlife arrangements

Days

Hospice will help help address:

  • Multiple ER visits
  • Anxiety related to discontinuation of treatments
  • Excessive pain/symptoms
  • Unscheduled physician visits/calls
  • Patient and family exhaustion

 

Days of hospice care will help patients and/or caregivers to:

  • Manage pain and symptoms
  • Lessen anxiety or restlessness
  • Provide caregiving interventions

Home Health Frequently Asked Questions

What does Home Health provide?

Home health is often prescribed as part of a care plan following a hospitalization, a surgery, a skilled nursing facility visit, or a change in health.

What kinds of care are included in Home Health?

  1. Skilled Nursing (provided by a registered and/or licensed nurse)
  2. Physical Therapy
  3. Occupational Therapy
  4. Speech Therapy
  5. Medical Social Services
  6. Dietitians
  7. Home Health Aides

Who qualifies for Home Health?

A homebound patient, meaning it is difficult for the individual to leave the home setting without a taxing effort. Additionally, the patient needs to be followed by a medical doctor and require skilled care on a part-time or intermittent basis to improve, maintain, prevent, or further slow a health condition.

Who pays for Home Health?

Home health services are 100% paid by Medicare, Medicaid, the VA, and many private insurance companies and managed care.  Contact us to discuss your specific insurance.

How often does Home Health visit?

The frequency of home health visits is based on the doctor’s order and the patient’s specific needs and goals for care.  Most commonly, members of the home health team visit the home multiple times each week.

What do Home Health clinicians do on their visits?

Home health clinicians provide one-on-one care for patients in their homes. Home health care may involve assisting patients with basic needs such as bathing and dressing, as well as more specialized services such as physical therapy, wound care, medication management, and IV therapy.

Do I qualify for home health care?

  1. To qualify for home health care, you must meet the following criteria:
    1. Be considered “homebound,” based on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) criteria

Require skilled care on a part-time or intermittent basis to improve, maintain, prevent, or further slow your health condition

Does Medicare pay for home health?

Medicare Part A generally covers skilled nursing care in a skilled nursing facility under certain conditions for a limited time. Medicare Part A and Part B may also cover other home health services such as physical therapy and speech-language pathology services.

What is the difference between home health and hospice?

Home Health Care Hospice care
What is it? At-home services, such as nursing, therapy, and support, help patients recover with independence in a safe environment. End of life compassionate care including clinical, emotional, and spiritual care for patients and their families.
Who is it for? Patients dealing with serious or chronic illnesses and those recovering from an injury or surgery – especially those looking to stay in their own home and avoid future hospital visits. Patients with a life expectancy of six months or less (if the disease runs its normal course).
Who pays for it? We are Medicare certified and work directly with multiple insurance companies. Most insurances, including Medicare, provide these services at no cost to the patient or family. This all-inclusive benefit is covered 100%by Medicare. Similarly, most private insurance companies cover hospice services with no co-pays or out-of-pocket costs for the patient or family.

Difference between Home Care and Home Health

You have the right to choose the best care for yourself and those you love – and a growing number of people are choosing to receive care in the comfort of their own homes.

You also deserve to have the knowledge you need to make an informed choice, including an understanding of the differences between skilled home health and unskilled home care services.

Home Care Home Health
Paid for out-of-pocket or sometimes covered partially by insurance 100% covered by Medicare, Medicaid, and most private insurance plans
Transportation of patient Educates patient and caregiver
Meal preparation Check on patient’s eating and drinking
Bill paying Check and manages patient’s pain levels
Assist with dressing, bathing, and grooming Wound care and injections
Medication reminders Intravenous or nutrition therapy
House cleaning and assisting Monitor prescription and other drugs and treatments for correct use
Monitor for serious illness and unstable health status
Check on blood pressure, temperature, heart rate, and breathing
Check on home safety
Coordinates care with patients, their doctors, and any caregivers (including home care staff)
Empowers patients and caregivers with education to improve self-care