How to Choose a Hospice

Knowing what to ask and what to expect is the first step in choosing a hospice that is right for you!

  • The answer should really be "It depends!" Medicare requires that the hospice plan of care is individualized to the patient's needs. If they are having unmanaged symptoms or if the caregivers need more training, visits should be more frequent. At a minimum, the nurse should visit NO LESS OFTEN than every 2 weeks. It's also important to note that hospice doesn't provide 24/7 in home nurses. Nurse visits usually only last 20 minutes to a couple of hours, again depending on what the need is.

  • A hospice registered nurse is required to be available by phone 24 hours a day. You'll want to know if they are able to provide visits after hours, on weekends and on holidays. Ask how long you can expect it to take for a nurse to arrive?

  • Hospice agencies are required to have a higher level of care available for such situations. General Inpatient (GIP) allows the person to be transferred to the hospital, a skilled nursing facility or a hospice care center for symptom management. Ask who they contract with for this (ideally this would be a hospice care center). They are also required to provide Continuous Home Care which will provide a nurse to be in the home for several hours at a time to get symptoms managed.

  • Many hospices provide massage, music, aromatherapy, Reiki, thanatology, and other therapies. In addition, hospice is required to provide speech, physical and occupational therapists if needed.

  • The standard equipment is a bed, over bed table, bedside commode, shower chair or bench and any ambulatory assistive device needed. To me the single most important thing to know is what kind of bed they will provide. You want a bed that is FULLY electric. All hospice beds come with a remote to raise or lower the head or foot of the bed but many have a crank handle to raise the overall height of the bed. Bein able to raise up the bed to care for your person will save your back but you don't want to have an arm that looks like Popeye's. A fully electric bed does away with the crank and replaces it with a feature on the remote that will do the heavy lifting.

    A high quality matrress is also important to prevent skin breakdown. A low air loss mattress is optimal.