What you need to know when it comes to Hospice Care.

The number one thing to know is that patients get the most benefit from hospice support when hospice is called early. 

Sooner is Better!

Our hospice professionals understand your needs and concerns.

Call 707-263-6222 today for more to schedule a information visit.

When Should Hospice Be Called?

Patients get the most benefit from hospice support when hospice is called early.

No matter what the person’s physical condition, Hospice Care focuses on keeping each patient as comfortable, functional, and alert as possible. 

If needed, Hospice Care may include help with bathing, dressing, and eating, as well as medicine and treatment for all symptoms including pain and anxiety.

Who Needs Hospice Care?

Comfort Care is for individuals with life-limiting illnesses and their loved ones.  Individuals get the most benefit from comfort care when hospice is called early.

Typically, Hospice Care begins in the last six months of life to provide comfort, pain management, and symptom control.  Hospice Care allows patients to die at home, in a familiar environment, surrounded by their loved ones. Hospice Care also supports caregivers with challenges of caring for a dying loved one.  When a cure is no longer possible, the emphasis of care changes from hope for a cure, to hope for quality of life, dignity and purpose in the time remaining, and a peaceful, comfortable death at the end.

When patients decide to be cared for by a hospice program, they acknowledge that treatment goals will shift from doing everything possible to cure their condition to helping make the rest of their life as comfortable and high-quality as possible. 

Hospice Care:

• surrounds the patient, caregivers and a team of professionals offering physical, emotional and spiritual support.
• includes pain control and improving the patient’s quality of life for whatever time he or she has left.
• allows the patient to receive end-of-life care in his or her own home or in a familiar environment.
• can be provided at a nursing home, a residential facility or an assisted living center.
• provides access to a member of the hospice team 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• provides grief support prior to and after death.
• may include volunteer support.

Who Pays for Hospice Care?

Medicare, Medi-Cal and most private insurance plans cover the cost of hospice, including medications, medical supplies and equipment that is connected to the patient’s primary diagnosis. If a patient does not have any insurance coverage, Hospice Services of Lake County will work with the patient to provide hospice care. The federal Medicare Hospice Benefit is covered under Medicare Part A. The Benefit covers virtually all aspects of Hospice Care with very little, if any, out-of-pocket expenses to the patient or family.  Hospice Services of Lake County is fully certified by Medicare.

Hospice Care is a Medicare benefit that includes medications, medical supplies and medical equipment that is at minimum or no cost to the patient and his or her loved ones.

Here are some of the services covered by Medicare:

A person is eligible for hospice when:

A condition is considered incurable (this is often a terminal illness) or a doctor has indicated that life expectancy is 6 months or less if the illness runs its normal course.  Typically, a form must be signed by a patient’s primary doctor, as well as the Medical Director or physician member of the hospice team. Here are Questions to Ask Your Doctor (PDF).  

Some people live longer than expected.  If a hospice patient lives longer than 6 months and is still declining from the illness, he or she can continue to receive hospice care.  If the patient gets better, Hospice Care can be discontinued and re-started if the illness becomes active again.

When an individual decides to be cared for by a hospice program, he or she acknowledges that treatment goals will shift from doing everything possible to cure a condition to helping make each day as comfortable as possible and living each day to the fullest.