While still a mystery to many people, hospice care is a routine part of medicine, representing an important resource in the completion of good medical care. Some recent studies indicate that patients who receive hospice care can actually live longer than patients who did not enroll in a hospice program. Despite these findings, only a minority of appropriate patients actually receive hospice care.
Calling is the fastest way to get our comprehensive hospice services started. Once help is requested, our hospice clinical team will begin by making an assessment. This includes talking with the patient, the family and the patient’s physician(s).
Call us now for quick answers to your questions about all of the services that we provide and to see if you qualify for care. Experts are standing by to answer your questions.
Hospice Care Eligibility Guidelines
In most cases, physicians refer their patients to us, but anyone can refer a patient to us by calling or submitting a form online.
We have included the following illness-related guidelines for your review. Call us now if you have any additional questions about the appropriateness of referring a patient to hospice or would like to schedule a consultation.
Understanding the Benefits of Hospice Care
Oftentimes, people do not understand what hospice is until they need its services. Hospice is a benefit program of healthcare services designed to meet the special needs of patients and their loved ones, when patients are diagnosed with a disease for which they elect comfort and palliative care, rather than aggressive treatments. Experience has concluded that patients are more content when they experience the support of loved ones in the comfort of their own homes. For this reason, hospice care is provided by a team-oriented group of specially trained professionals, volunteers and family members wherever the patient calls home.
The goal of hospice care is to improve the quality of life by providing comfort and compassion while preserving dignity.
In addition to this central goal, hospice services can:
- Offer a specialized knowledge of medical care, including pain management, through its staff and volunteers
- Treat all symptoms of a disease, with a special emphasis on controlling a patient’s pain and discomfort
- Address the emotional, social and spiritual impact of the disease on the patient and the patient’s family and friends
- Provide bereavement and counseling services for families
We are here to assist you through the process. From the attending doctor, patient, family members, friends, clergy and social workers, to the hospital discharge planner, or any person concerned with a patient’s well-being, anyone can make a referral. Help is only a phone call away.