What Options are Available
Once a patient, family member, friend, or attending physician requests hospice, the patient’s needs will be determined and a care plan created specifically for that patient by our hospice physician and hospice nurse. Each patient will get the appropriate level of hospice care depending on those needs. However, hospice patients may move between levels of care depending on their most immediate needs. Our goal is to ensure that no patient, or family member, is ever left alone in a crisis.
Under Medicare Hospice Benefit, the most basic level of care is referred to as routine home care or routine nursing home care if the patient resides in a nursing home. Services provided at this level of care include:
- Medications
- Medical supplies and equipment
- Diagnostic and lab work related to terminal diagnosis
- Registered nurses who schedule visits 1-3 times a week based on patient’s needs
- The participation of the attending physician, the hospice physician, and any specialists involved in care
- Home health aides who schedule visits 2-3 times a week
- A medical social worker who assists in problem solving, coordinates available services, and lends emotional support to patients and their families
- Physical, occupational, or speech therapy if needed
Continuous Care
Continuous care is a level of hospice care when the patient is experiencing physical or emotional symptoms that extend beyond the care provided by the routine care plan. At this level of care, a nurse and/ or home health aide will stay in the patient’s home for a minimum of 8 hours a day (up to 24 hours a day) until the patient’s symptoms are under control. The symptoms that warrant continuous care may include severe nausea and vomiting, constant pain, panic attacks or severe anxiety, extreme shortness of breath, or a temporary breakdown in the patient’s caregiver support system.
