Hospice Care - Tacoma, WA

Hospice care has been around for 30 years. It is a valuable service and is generally underused except for terminal cancer patients. Most families wait too long to have their doctor prescribe hospice from Medicare. Many doctors or family don't often consider this care alternative for Alzheimer's, degenerative old age or other debilitating illnesses where a person is going downhill fast. Hospice involves a team approach using the following providers.

• Family caregivers
• The patient' s personal physician
• Hospice physician (or medical director)
• Nurses
• Home health aides
• Social workers
• Clergy or other counselors
• Trained volunteers; and
• Speech, physical, and occupational therapists, if needed.

The purpose of hospice is the following:

• Manages the patient's pain and symptoms;
• Assists the patient with the emotional and psychosocial and spiritual aspects of dying;
• Provides needed medications, medical supplies, and equipment;
• Coaches the family on how to care for the patient;
• Delivers special services like speech and physical therapy when needed;
• Makes short-term inpatient care available when pain or symptoms become too difficult to manage at home, or the caregiver needs respite time; and
• Provides bereavement care and counseling to surviving family and friends.
  

A person can receive hospice from Medicare if he or she is

• Eligible for Medicare Part A (Hospital Insurance), and
• The doctor and the hospice medical director certify that the person is terminally ill and probably has less than six months to live, and
• The person or a family member signs a statement choosing hospice care instead of routine Medicare covered benefits for the terminal illness, and
• Care is received from a Medicare-approved hospice program.

Although hospice is an outstanding service, Medicare typically does not provide enough supportive care for many patients. For those who have long term care insurance, there may be additional money available to buy more time from in-home aides. If there is no insurance, family members often pay out of their own pockets to bring in more help.