Hospice Care
24-hour service
Hospice staff members visit the patient on a regular basis to assess their needs and give additional care or services.
Your call will be answered by a Hanover Hospice nurse… not an on-call service.
Levels of care
Routine Hospice Care, General Inpatient Care, Continuous Home Care, and Inpatient Respite Care are the four categories of care available under the Medicare Hospice Benefit. Each payment covers all parts of a patient’s care connected to a terminal illness, including all interdisciplinary team services, medication, medical equipment, and supplies.
When is it time for hospice
Hospice care usually applies during the last six months of life, but now might be the right time to get in touch with us if you’re asking this question.
The Hanover Hospice team of professionals is always ready to help you and your loved ones make plans.
It might not be time for hospice right now, but understanding what should happen when that time comes can help reduce the strain during a very difficult period.
Consider starting the conversation if your recognize one or more of the following symptoms:
- Frequent hospitalizations in the past six months
- Progressive weight loss
- Increasing weakness, fatigue, and somnolence
- A change in cognitive and functional abilities
- Compromised activities of daily living (ADLs) such as eating, bathing, dressing, toileting, transferring/walking, and continence
- Deteriorating cognitive abilities
- Recurrent infections
- Skin breakdown
Disease-specific hospice eligibility criteria
There are also specific hospice eligibility criteria to consider based on the patient’s primary diagnosis.
- AIDS
- Cancer
- Cerebral Vascular Accident (CVA) / Stroke
- Congestive Heart Failure / Cardiopulmonary Disease
- COPD / Cardiopulmonary Disease
- Dementia
- Liver Disease
- Neurological Conditions (Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, ALS, Huntington’s disease, )
- Renal Disease
Please note: Co-morbidities, the presence of two or more chronic diseases or conditions at the same time, are also a factor to consider in qualifying for hospice.
If you have any doubt about whether the requirements for hospice care have been met, please contact us.