We’re Here To Answer Your Biggest Questions About Hospice
When your loved one’s physician and your family begin a discussion about hospice, this means you’re carrying a lot, all at once. Love, concern, worry, exhaustion, and pressure about making the right decision are on your mind.
Know that you’re not alone. Families often experience similar feelings during this time and ask many of the same questions. To help ease your burden, Phoenix Home Care & Hospice has taken the time to answer questions that families have about hospice. Use our answers as a starting point to take a clear next step forward with Phoenix by your side.
What is hospice care, and how is it different from palliative care?
Hospice is comfort-focused care for a loved one with a life-limiting illness that would normally follow its usual course in six months or less if left untreated. Hospice focuses on the physical symptoms associated with the patient’s illness, while also providing emotional and spiritual care. Palliative care provides symptom and quality-of-life care, yet it often begins much earlier than hospice and can be provided alongside medical treatment for an illness.
How do I know when it’s time for hospice care?
A family, their loved one, and their doctor request hospice when the main goal for the loved one’s care changes from treating their illness to comfort. If your doctor certifies that your loved one has a terminal illness with a typical life expectancy of six months or less, your loved one qualifies for home hospice care.
Call or message us today to choose Phoenix as your hospice provider.
What are the specific signs that a loved one is ready for hospice care?
When your loved one wishes to receive care at home, wants to avoid the hospital and ER, and desires to live without pain and discomfort, hospice is an ideal, compassionate solution.
If your loved one is experiencing any of the following, it may be time to discuss hospice care:
- Progressive weight loss
- Infections
- Falls
- Confusion
- Poor response to current treatments
- Decreased appetite or reduced nutritional intake
- Deciding not to receive curative treatment for a terminal disease
- Frequent hospitalizations
- Not sleeping due to symptoms
- Pain that is poorly controlled
- Loss of speech
- Loss of interest in activities
- Wounds that are not healing
- Difficulty breathing at rest or with oxygen
- Frequent medication changes
Who qualifies for hospice care?
Under Medicare, the general qualifications state that your physician must certify that your loved one is terminally ill (with a life expectancy of six months or less if the illness were to run its normal course), your loved one wishes to receive comfort care, and they elect hospice instead of curative treatment for their terminal condition.
Is hospice care only for cancer?
Home hospice care is a solution for many life-limiting illnesses and conditions, including cancer. Other conditions include:
- ALS
- Alzheimer’s
- Heart disease
- Renal disease
- Liver disease
- Pulmonary disease
- Stroke
- Coma
- Parkinson’s
- Muscular dystrophy
- Multiple sclerosis
- Myasthenia gravis
Can you receive hospice care for longer than six months?
Yes. After the first six months of hospice care, your loved one can continue with hospice as long as they receive a doctor’s re-certification that they have a life-limiting (terminal) condition. Your hospice care team can help your family understand recertification requirements.
Does my loved one have to stop treatment to receive hospice care?
Hospice allows your loved one to receive comfort-focused care rather than care for their terminal illness. Medicare covers equipment, supplies, and medications to meet your loved one’s care needs at home, but does not cover curative treatment. If your loved one has health challenges that are unrelated to their life-limiting illness, they can still receive Medicare-covered care for these needs.
Where does hospice care take place?
Hospice is often provided where a person lives, such as at home, in assisted living, or in a nursing home. Wherever your loved one calls home and is most comfortable is an ideal place to receive hospice care.
What services are provided by the home hospice team?
Along with symptom management and pain relief, hospice care includes:
- 24/7 on-call nursing.
- Chaplains for spiritual support.
- Medical social workers.
- Hospice caregiver (bath aide up to two times per week).
- Medical supplies, medication, and equipment.
- Trained volunteers for companionship and support.
- Bereavement support for the family.
- Respite care for caregiver relief.
Ensure your loved one receives physical, emotional, and spiritual care during hospice by choosing Phoenix.
Can my loved one keep their current doctor?
Hospice provides a highly specialized team to coordinate care and meet your loved one’s needs during this part of their healthcare journey. Although your hospice care team typically guides your loved one’s care, this team can also keep your regular doctor involved.
How often will the hospice team visit? Is someone available 24/7?
The frequency of your loved one’s home hospice care visits directly depends on your loved one’s needs and their individualized plan of care. Your loved one’s plan of care can change as symptoms change, including an increase in the number of visits. Hospice also offers a 24/7 phone line for urgent needs, so your family always has answers and support.
Can a loved one receiving home hospice care get inpatient help if needed?
General inpatient (GIP) hospice is available when pain or acute and/or chronic symptoms get out of control, and your loved one requires immediate support that home hospice can’t provide. GIP helps to control severe symptoms in the short term, so your loved one can return home.
What is hospice respite care? How does it work?
As family caregivers, you will still be involved with your loved one’s care, even during hospice. Caregivers can get some rest from physical and emotional exhaustion while your loved one is cared for in a short-term inpatient facility.
What spiritual and emotional support is available during hospice?
A chaplain is available to provide spiritual support for your loved one, including conversation, reading, prayer, and comfort. Social workers and trained volunteers also rally around your loved one and family to provide emotional support. You will find that your loved one never has to go it alone.
Is there support for the family during hospice care?
Bereavement support, also known as grief counseling, is available for families, including check-ins after your loved one has passed, so you’ll always have structured support to lean on when you need it.
How does my family choose the best hospice provider?
Consider a team that offers your loved one all of the benefits of hospice, including respite care for family caregivers, bereavement support, spiritual care, responsive 24/7 on-call nurses, and more. You should feel that every need is taken care of, so your loved one has the dignity and comfort they deserve, and your family can focus on presence, connection, and togetherness.
Choose Phoenix Home Care & Hospice for Exceptional Hospice Care
When you’re ready to talk with a hospice care team who will listen empathetically, answer every question with patience and compassion, and help you figure out how to take the next step, call Phoenix.
We guide you through everything you need to know, so you don’t have to handle every decision on your own. Reach out to our team and move forward knowing that you’re not alone on this journey.
Let us be there for you. Give your loved one compassionate care by requesting home hospice care from Phoenix. Call or send us a message today.
