Hospice does not forego medications or treatments.Hospice doctors have extensive training in end-of-life care and will work closely with a patient’s personal physician to ensure the patient is as comfortable as possible. A patient’s personal physician can choose to be part of the hospice care team. The patient’s personal doctor is not excluded.Under Medicare there are no co-pays for physician visits, nursing care, medications, hospice equipment or medical supplies related to the patient’s primary illness. Hospice is an all-inclusive benefit covered by Medicare, Medicaid, Medi-Cal and most private insurance companies. Hospice is usually less expensive than conventional care during the last six months of life. However, anyone who has a terminal illness, whether it’s heart disease, COPD, liver disease, kidney failure, stroke, ALS, Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, AIDS or any life-limiting condition, is eligible for hospice care. Certainly cancer patients make up a large number of hospice patients. Hospice is not just for cancer patients.

They respect all cultures and points of view and are there to lend support and discuss the patient’s and the family’s feelings. Hospice provides chaplains and other spiritual counselors from all faiths and no faith. When medical treatments can no longer cure a disease, hospice professionals can do many things to control pain, reduce anxiety, offer spiritual and emotional support, and improve quality of life for terminally ill people and their families. A plan of care is created that family and loved ones carry out at home to the extent they are willing and able. Every patient has an interdisciplinary team that starts with the patient and family: patient, family caregiver, physician, nurse, social worker, chaplain, hospice aid, bereavement specialist, and volunteer. Loved ones and relatives are not kept from participating in caring for the hospice patient.Some hospitals have hospice beds however, the intention of hospice is to deliver hospice services to the patient wherever he/she calls home. This could be a private residence, assisted living community or nursing home. Those who choose hospice services near the end of life do not “go into” hospice, but receive services where they live. The answers to these hospice myths are no, no and no. Is hospice really a place sick people go and never come back? Once someone goes into hospice, does that mean the family never gets to see him or her again? Isn’t hospice some sort of religious practice? Medicare Hospice Benefit & Physician Billing.Benefits of Hospice and Palliative Care.Hospice and Palliative Care Eligibility Guidelines.

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