What Are the Qualifications for Hospice Care?

Hospice is a program and philosophy of health care designed to provide palliative, or comfort, treatment to individuals with a terminal illness. Care may be provided in a home, a nursing home or a free standing hospice facility. According to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, 1.4 million Americans received hospice care in the year 2007, and this number is expected to increase with time.

History

• The first modern hospice was established in 1967 in London by Dame Cicely Saunders. Hospice services were available to terminally ill patients in some places in the United States by the 1970s, but it was not until 1982 that Medicare A began to cover the cost of hospice and strict qualifications for hospice care were enacted.

Function

• You can utilize hospice when you have been diagnosed with a terminal illness, when you have stopped all treatment aimed at curing your illness, and when a doctor certifies that you have a life expectancy of six months or less.

Features

• The chief goal of hospice is comfort: physical comfort, psychological comfort and spiritual comfort. Therefore, Medicare guidelines require that hospice feature a multidisciplinary care team consisting of doctors, nurses, personal care aides, medical social workers, chaplains volunteers and other care providers as indicated. Hospice patients who are comfortable working within the team framework generally derive the greatest benefits from the program.

Considerations

• Medicare, state Medicaid programs, the Veteran's Administration and most private insurances cover the cost of hospice care for people who meet the criteria. If you meet hospice criteria but do not have any insurance, you may still qualify to receive services from a not-for-profit hospice or a community hospice.

Misconceptions

• Hospice provides oversight of your medical condition and even helps with personal care such as bathing and dressing, but hospice does not provide full time caregivers. In fact, to qualify for hospice, you must have a willing, able and available caregiver in the home.