Myths About Hospice Care

Fact: Most private insurers cover hospice care, as do Medicare and Medicaid. However, Hospice East offers the same exceptional care to all patients, regardless of insurance coverage. We never bill the patient or family.

Fact: Hospice care provides psychosocial and spiritual care, along with pain management. Few people ever become addicted to opiates when used safely under a hospice physician’s guidance.

Fact: Hospice care is provided to people of all ages, from infancy to adulthood.

Fact: Hospice care can be provided any place you call home – your own home or a family member’s, a nursing home, an assisted living facility, an in-patient unit, or a VA hospital.

Fact: Fifty percent of hospice patients are diagnosed with conditions other than cancer or AIDS.

Fact: While Medicare guidelines require a patient to have a terminal prognosis of 6 months or less to be eligible for hospice, there is no fixed limit.

Fact: Bereavement services and grief support are available to family members for up to one year after the death of a patient.