What is Hospice?

Hospice is a special compassionate care for patients with late-stage and terminal illnesses and their families. The care received during hospice focuses on the patient’s physical, emotional, and spiritual needs.

Hospice care includes but is not limited to:

• Pain control and management
• Assistance with daily activities
• Chaplain services

It’s important to understand that hospice care is not meant for curative purposes but to provide compassionate support to manage pain and allow patients to live out their remaining days with comfort, meaning, and dignity.

Is it Time For Hospice?

Knowing when to call hospice for you or a loved one can be difficult, but there are signs that it’s time for hospice:

• Frequent visits to the hospital or ER that indicate traditional treatments are no longer working.
• Changes in medical abilities like increased confusion or forgetfulness
• Progressive weight loss
• Increased pain that is becoming more difficult to control at home
• Increased shortness of breath
• Frequent or recurring infections
• A rapid decline in health over six months despite medical treatments

Hospice Eligibility

No one diagnosis qualifies patients for hospice, but rather a combination of symptoms and circumstances.

For a patient to be eligible for hospice, they need to have been diagnosed with a terminal illness and a diagnosis of six months. The patient should have also experienced significant weight loss, visited the hospital frequently, and had a Palliative Performance Scale (PPS) rating of 50-60%.