Hospice offers physical, emotional, social and spiritual support for patients and their families. It provides special care to people who are near the end of life and have stopped treatment to cure or control their disease.

Hospice is designed to provide comfort for people with health problems where there is no cure. The focus is on caring and helping to make people as comfortable and functional as possible by controlling pain and other symptoms caused by disease. Counseling helps people and families come to terms with the process.

Hospice is not just for elderly adults. People with progressive and life-limiting diseases may choose hospice.

Team Approach

Typically, a team of people treats the hospice patient. The team can include counselors, family members, healthcare providers, home health or hospice aides, nurses, pastoral care services, social workers and trained volunteers.

The goal is to control pain and symptoms. The person is comfortable yet alert enough to make decisions. The team also helps the family through the grieving process.

Some hospices have a facility where people get care in their final days. But most hospice programs bring healthcare providers, nurses and other staff to people’s homes. Surveys show most Americans prefer it that way.

Through respite care, a hospice can give family caregivers a break. A trained caregiver will step in to allow family members some time off.

Even with these benefits, many people still have the misunderstanding that you come to hospice at the end of your life.

“Hospice is not just for a person’s final days,” said Jody Hershberger, director of Aultman Hospice and Palliative Care. “Too often, patients with a terminal diagnosis enter hospice care in the last days or weeks of life, missing out on the support and services they and their loved ones could have received.”

Hospice also offers many support services for patients and families. The relationship that develops with the hospice staff allows patients to work through anticipated grieving as well as planning for end-of-life issues. The final days can be spent on closure, knowing that everything has been done to help the patient.

Hospice and Health Plans

Medicare, Medicaid and most health plans cover hospice programs. People can enter hospice care when a healthcare provider determines that the patient has a life-threatening illness with six months or less to live.

The person, family and healthcare provider decide when hospice service should start. The person may choose to stop hospice at any time if they decide to resume treatment toward a cure.

Although a person enters hospice with less than six months to live, hospice services don't automatically end at six months. Some people in hospice care live much longer. Insurance may continue to provide hospice coverage after six months if a healthcare provider has stated in writing that the person has a life-limiting illness.

For more information about hospice, visit Aultman Hospice and Palliative Care.

Sources:
Aultman Health System
The StayWell Company, LLC