Need Hospice Care?

Speak with our team about services and availability in your area.

Healthcare professional or referral partner?

Submit a REFERRAL through our online referral process or contact our hospice team to discuss a patient’s needs.

Compassionate Hospice Care Services

Hospice care provides comfort, dignity, and support for individuals living with a life-limiting illness. At AdvisaCare, our hospice teams focus on managing symptoms, supporting quality of life, and helping patients and families make the most of the time they have together.

Our interdisciplinary hospice team provides individualized care wherever a patient calls home, including a private residence, assisted living community, adult foster care home, or skilled nursing facility.

What Is Hospice Care?

Hospice is specialized care for individuals with a life-limiting illness who choose to focus on comfort and quality of life rather than treatment intended to cure the terminal condition.

Hospice is generally available when a physician determines that an individual has a life expectancy of six months or less if the illness follows its expected course. Choosing hospice does not mean giving up care. Instead, the focus of care changes to managing pain and symptoms, maintaining comfort, and supporting the physical, emotional, social, and spiritual needs of the patient and family.

Our team works closely with patients, families, physicians, and other healthcare providers to develop a plan of care based on each person’s needs, wishes, and goals.

Hospice Services

AdvisaCare provides a comprehensive range of hospice services designed to promote comfort and quality of life.

Pain and Symptom Management

Our clinical team assesses and manages pain and other symptoms associated with a patient’s terminal illness. Nurses provide ongoing monitoring and communicate with physicians and the hospice medical director as needs change.

Skilled Nursing Care

Hospice nurses make regularly scheduled visits to assess the patient’s condition, manage symptoms, provide education, coordinate medications, and support patients and caregivers. Nursing support is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for hospice-related needs.

Medication Management

The hospice team helps coordinate medications related to the terminal diagnosis and symptom management while continually evaluating the patient’s comfort and changing needs.

Personal Care

Hospice aides provide assistance with personal care needs such as bathing, grooming, dressing, and other activities that help patients remain comfortable and maintain dignity.

Medical Social Services

Hospice social workers provide emotional support, assist patients and families with care planning, connect them with community resources, and help navigate practical concerns that may arise during end-of-life care.

Spiritual Support

Spiritual care is available according to each patient’s individual beliefs, values, and preferences. Support is not limited to any particular faith or religious tradition, and our team can also help connect patients and families with their own faith communities when requested.

Bereavement Support

Grief and bereavement support is available to family members and loved ones following a patient’s death. Our team provides ongoing resources and support throughout the bereavement period.

Medical Equipment and Supplies

When related to the hospice plan of care, our team coordinates necessary medical equipment and supplies that may include hospital beds, wheelchairs, oxygen equipment, bedside equipment, and other supplies needed to support care and comfort at home.

Your Hospice Care Team

Hospice care is provided through an interdisciplinary team of professionals working together to address the needs of both the patient and family.

Medical Director
Works with the patient’s attending physician and hospice team to oversee the medical components of the hospice plan of care.

Registered Nurses
Assess the patient’s condition, manage pain and symptoms, provide education and support, and coordinate clinical care.

Hospice Aides
Assist with personal care and other needs under the direction of the clinical team.

Medical Social Workers
Provide emotional support, resource coordination, care planning assistance, and guidance for patients and families navigating end-of-life concerns.

Spiritual Care Professionals
Provide individualized spiritual and emotional support based on the patient’s wishes and beliefs.

Bereavement Professionals
Provide grief support and resources for families and loved ones.

Volunteers
Specially trained hospice volunteers may provide companionship and additional support to patients and families.

Hospice Care Wherever You Call Home

Hospice isn’t limited to a particular building or facility. Care can often be provided wherever the patient considers home, including:

•  A private residence
• Assisted living communities
• Adult foster care or group homes
• Skilled nursing facilities
• Other residential care settings

Our hospice team works with the patient, family, caregivers, and facility staff to coordinate care and help maintain comfort in familiar surroundings.

Who May Be Eligible for Hospice Care?

A person may be appropriate for hospice when they have a life-limiting illness and their condition continues to decline despite treatment or when the goals of care have shifted toward comfort.

Some signs that it may be time to have a conversation about hospice include:

• Increasing pain, shortness of breath, nausea, or other difficult-to-manage symptoms
• Frequent hospitalizations or emergency room visits
• Increasing difficulty recovering after illnesses or medical setbacks
• Significant decreases in appetite or unintended weight loss
• Increasing weakness, fatigue, or difficulty with everyday activities
• Spending more time sleeping or experiencing decreased alertness
• Curative treatment is no longer effective, recommended, or consistent with the patient’s goals

These signs do not determine hospice eligibility on their own. Our hospice team can help patients, families, and healthcare providers determine whether an evaluation may be appropriate.

When Should You Ask About Hospice?

You don’t have to wait until the final days of life to ask about hospice.

Conversations about hospice can begin whenever a patient, family, or healthcare provider has questions about changing goals of care, increasing symptoms, or declining health. Learning about hospice earlier can give patients and families more time to understand their options and make decisions based on their individual wishes.

A hospice evaluation can help determine whether someone currently qualifies for care and answer questions about what services may be available.

Paying for Hospice Care

Hospice care may be covered by Medicare, Medicaid, and many private insurance plans for individuals who meet eligibility requirements.

Coverage and benefits can vary. Our team can help patients and families understand available hospice benefits and answer questions about insurance coverage before care begins.

Understanding Hospice: Common Myths

Myth: Hospice is only for the last few days of life.

Fact: Hospice is designed to support eligible patients during the final months of a life-limiting illness, not only during the final days. Earlier hospice involvement can provide more time for symptom management, support, education, and care planning.

Myth: Once someone chooses hospice, they can never leave.

Fact: Hospice is a choice. A patient may revoke hospice care, and patients whose condition improves may no longer meet eligibility requirements. Hospice may also be elected again later when eligibility requirements are met.

Myth: Hospice means all medical treatment stops.

Fact: Hospice changes the goals of treatment rather than eliminating medical care. Treatment focuses on comfort and quality of life related to the terminal illness. Patients may still receive appropriate treatment for medical conditions or injuries unrelated to their hospice diagnosis.

Myth: Hospice means all medications are stopped.

Fact: Medications are reviewed as part of the hospice plan of care. Medications that support comfort, symptom management, and the patient’s goals may continue, while the hospice team works with the patient, family, and physicians to evaluate medication needs.

Myth: Choosing hospice means giving up.

Fact: Hospice is an active approach to care focused on how a person wants to live. The goal is to manage symptoms, maintain dignity and comfort, and provide patients and families with physical, emotional, social, and spiritual support.

Hospice Care From AdvisaCare

Every patient’s experience with serious illness is different. AdvisaCare’s hospice teams provide individualized care centered on each patient’s comfort, dignity, wishes, and quality of life while supporting the family throughout the hospice journey.

If you have questions about hospice care for yourself or someone you love, our team can help you understand your options and determine the next steps.