As a hospice professional with more than a decade of experience, I’ve seen firsthand the helplessness and vulnerability that families feel when their loved one is affected by a terminal illness. Like many other hospice caregivers, I work hard every day to help inform my patients and their families about the end-of-life care resources they have available to them and how they can obtain proper end-of-life care.My role – as a hospice case manager – is to help families determine whether their loved one is hospice appropriate. Due to a general lack of hospice awareness, I often work with families who don’t know enough about it. Below are some common questions I hear from families prior to electing a hospice, and my responses.
Hospice Eligibility
• Is hospice a place?
Hospice isn’t a place. It’s the treatment of physical and emotional pain and symptoms at the end of life. The care is provided wherever patients may reside, for example private residences, adult living communities or nursing homes. In fact, most terminally ill patients choose to remain in their homes, in comfortable and familiar surroundings, accompanied by their loved ones.
• Is hospice care expensive?
Hospice care – which is administered by highly skilled, interdisciplinary teams of palliative care experts, including physicians, nurses, home health aides, social workers, chaplains, bereavement specialists and volunteers – is covered by Medicare, Medicaid, and most private insurance plans.
• What is the criterion to qualify for hospice?
Hospice care is available to anyone who has been determined by their physician to have six months or less to live, therefore age is not a determining factor for receiving hospice care.
• How can I enroll in hospice if I am not a Medicare beneficiary?
It’s important to know that VITAS cares for all hospice-appropriate patients despite their ability to pay, and provides charity care to patients that don’t qualify through Medicare, Medicaid or private insurance.
• I’m not a Medicare beneficiary and my family can barely cover my hospice expenses. What happens if we can’t afford to pay some of our bills?
If VITAS patients and families are in need of financial assistance, VITAS Community Connection (VCC), a 501(c)3 charitable organization, can step in to assess the situation and determine how best to support the patient and family.
A ‘life-line’ at the end of life: VITAS Community Connection (VCC)
VITAS developed the VCC in 2010 as a vehicle for VITAS employees, patients and families to donate funds to support special needs patients and families within their communities, as well as to help local, non-profit, health and medical organizations.
The VCC supports all VITAS programs across the country. Donations may assist with all manner of expenses from utilities, rent, airfare and other patient/family expenses, or they become grants donated to local community partner organizations that also provide aid to many VITAS patients. To date, more than $4.7 million has been donated to the VCC.
Dignity at the end of life: Electing a Hospice Provider
When choosing a hospice provider for you or your loved one, it’s imperative to keep in mind that every hospice offers unique services. It’s best to know your needs ahead of time, then research and call the hospices in your area to find out which provider offers the services that are most important to you or your loved one.
Hospice gives patients choice and dignity during the end of life. That is why we believe that everyone who would benefit from hospice care should be entitled to access it, and we are glad to see a growth in options for hospice care throughout the country.
