Getting the Good out of Hospice

The Hospice benefit covers a renewable 6 month period. There are numerous provisions under this benefit and patients that are willing to accept the service sooner have a better opportunity to utilize the many different aspects of the Hospice service. A patient that qualifies and accepts the service does not eliminate every type of treatment by allowing the hospice team to help. Hospice does not require a patient to forego all treatment but the service does focus on quality of life and comfort. Studies reveal that patients that accept Hospice service earlier feel they have higher quality of life, and live better and longer than patients that wait till the last few days of life. Optimal time to be on service is 6 months. Many times, patients that accept service earlier actually live longer than the prognosis originally indicated. Hospice service is renewable and if time passes and the patient is still at risk, the patient can recertify to extend the amount of time on an ongoing basis. In this episode we give many examples to describe and discuss the tremendous asset to the patient and family when hospice is allowed in the home. Many times patients with serious illness want to be functional and have symptoms managed so they do not need to go to hospital. Needing to be in the hospital indicates symptoms are not managed and the disease state is not managed. Families and patients often wish they could be at home instead of going to the hospital. Hospice can assist them to achieve these goals. Hospice offers an entire team to assist the patient and family to deal with symptoms of the disease. The hospice team addresses the concerns the family members have as a result of the disease affecting the patient. Families may have anxiety or depression. Families may not know how to support or help their loved one. Each patient is discussed in detail, twice a month in a multidisciplinary meeting. The team members eview how the patient and family are managing. They review what has occurred and what is anticipated to be needed to assist the patient and family.