Myth or Fact?

What do you know about hospice services…The answers might surprise you!

Answer each statement True or False:

Hospice services are prohibitively costly.
False. Costs are covered 100% by Medicaid/Medicare and most private insurance companies.

Hospice is a place for people who no longer wish to have curative and interventional medical services.
False. Hospice is not a location, but a philosophy of care based on maintaining comfort and dignity at the end of life.

The hospice team that provides care is designed according to each patient's needs, and may include physicians, registered nurses, social workers, home health aides, chaplains and volunteers to ease the burden on both the patient and the family.
True. Each patient's case is assessed and team members are assigned as needed, from physicians and nurses to social workers and home health aides.

The patient's own doctor remains as the primary care physician, in addition to a hospice physician.
True. Patients need not worry about having to give up their relationship with their own physician. That doctor works in concert with the hospice doctor to maximize patient comfort.

Choosing hospice means the patient and family are deciding to give up hope, foregoing extreme curative measures.  
False. Choosing hospice means the patient and family have hopes for a peaceful, comfortable quality of life for whatever life remains.

Any patient diagnosed with a serious illness may receive hospice care.
False. Any patient who has been diagnosed with a life threatening illness, and who has a life expectancy of six months or less, is eligible for hospice care.

Hospice hours are like a business, 9 to 5.
False. Our doctors, nurses, home health aides, even social workers and chaplains are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Patients and families are never alone during this challenging time.