Many people in Austin and across the U.S. are unfamiliar with hospice care and exactly what it entails. They wonder if hospice is only for the dying, or if it is appropriate to place patients with other types of medical issues into hospice. The hospice nurses and other medical professionals at Suncrest Home Health and Hospice of Austin want to explain what hospice is, who qualifies for hospice and what happens when patients enter hospice.
What Is Hospice Care?
Hospice care is end-of-life care intended not to cure patients, but simply make them comfortable in their final days.
Many people are diagnosed with terminal illnesses every day in Austin and throughout Texas. A terminal diagnosis means patients have a condition or a disease that cannot be cured through treatment or surgery.
Oftentimes these patients still receive treatment or undergo surgery, but these measures are intended to help prolong the life of the patient, not to cure their condition.
Who Qualifies for Hospice?
To qualify to enter hospice care, patients must be expected to live six months or less. Hospice is short-term care. Being diagnosed with cancer, COPD, emphysema or another incurable illness does not mean death is imminent. It could be many years down the road. Thus, in order to enter hospice, patients must have been diagnosed by their doctor with having six months or less to live.
Additionally, patients must have made the choice to discontinue life-saving measures such as chemotherapy or taking certain types of pharmaceuticals. Patients receive pain medication and other treatments to make them more comfortable in hospice, but no drugs are given to treat the illness or prolong life.
Oftentimes, treatments that prolong life are exhausting for patients, they make them feel sicker and they don’t help much. When patients decide they no longer want to undergo these treatments, they may enter hospice care.
Is Hospice Care Covered by Insurance?
Medicare covers hospice care. However, only seniors and those diagnosed with disabilities are eligible for Medicare. If you are a younger terminal patient, your private health insurance will likely cover hospice. The Affordable Care Act mandates that hospice care be covered.
At Suncrest Home Health and Hospice, our staff works with your family and insurance company to complete all the necessary paperwork that entering hospice entails.
What Happens in Hospice?
You may choose to receive hospice care at home or in a facility. At home, hospice nurses, home health aides and other health care professionals will visit you to keep you as clean, comfortable and peaceful as possible, providing services such as giving pain medication, baths, doing meal prep, feeding, changing bedding and more. In a facility, the same services are provided on-site.
While many hospice patients have little awareness and spend much of their time sleeping, others are still able to get up, visit with friends and family, watch TV, read or participate in other activities. The team at Suncrest Home Health and Hospice works hard to ensure all our patients are getting the most they can out of hospice care.
Suncrest Home Health and Hospice of Austin
For more information about hospice and whether your loved one qualifies and is ready to enter a hospice program, call Suncrest Home Health and Hospice of Austin. Our social workers and case managers are here to answer your questions and help you through this difficult time.
