What is Hospice?

Hospice is a patient-centered, family-oriented approach to care for anyone in the advanced stages of a life-limiting illness. By combining careful pain and symptom management with spiritual and emotional support, hospice enables patients to live out the remainder of their days in comfort and dignity, surrounded by those they love. Hospice care neither hastens death nor prolongs life but allows the illness to take its natural course. For families, hospice provides extensive bereavement support, both before and after the loss of a loved one.

Devoted Healthcare’s Philosophy

  • Provide patients with comfort care and effective pain and symptom management 
  • Help patients experience peace, comfort and dignity through the end of life 
  • Allow patients to make their own decisions regarding care and treatment 
  • Promote a caring community sensitive to the needs of hospice patients and their families 
  • Support family members and other caregivers in their efforts to care for their loved one 
  • Coordinate community resources to ensure continuity of care 
  • Offer bereavement support to families and the community 

Why Devoted Healthcare?

Devoted Healthcare is dedicated to ensuring the quality of life for patients through end-of-life care. Our holistic philosophy of treatment addresses patients’ physical, emotional and spiritual needs, allowing them to live as fully and comfortably as possible. Our job is to give you back your life for as much time as you have. This can be as straightforward as providing companionship and practical assistance or as complicated as controlling your pain, helping you talk to your family members, or working with you to resolve spiritual conflicts. Hospice treats the whole person. Hospice strives to meet all of your needs – physical, emotional, social and spiritual – as well as the needs of your family and friends.

Your choices are important to us. We do not ask patients to discontinue their current or routine medications, and we utilize antibiotics (either oral or injection) if an infection is present. We contract with our pharmacy to provide/refill routine and hospice medications to remove that burden from families.

Common Questions About Hospice

It is common for people to have many questions about what hospice care is and how it works. Here are some of the most common questions we are asked. If you have additional questions, please feel free to reach out. We are happy to help you and to answer any questions you have.

Most hospice care is provided in the patient’s choice of residence, including a private home, a nursing facility or an assisted living community. This allows patients to receive the care they need in a familiar setting. Devoted Healthcare nurses are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If an immediate need arises, an on-call nurse is available to address the concern and make a visit.

Care is provided by our team of registered nurses, certified hospice aides, physicians, social workers, bereavement counselors, chaplains and volunteers. Each patient and family is able to choose the type of care they receive. And it’s okay for your choices to change over the course of your care. We work closely with each patient to provide effective pain and symptom management that respects his or her unique care and treatment preferences. Our on-call hospice team is available around the clock, seven days a week.

While their loved one is enrolled in Hospice, we assist family members through our social services and spiritual services.

After a loved one passes, we also provide bereavement support for at least 13 months.

Some people see calling hospice services as “giving up hope” or something to fear but it shouldn’t be. Hospice is a medical specialty that allows patients and families to focus on quality of life. Hospice focuses on the hope that every day will be the best it can be rather than that the disease will be cured. The goal of hospice is to ease the suffering of chronically and terminally ill people and their families and friends.

Hospice care is appropriate when patients and those who love them are in agreement with a comfort-oriented approach to care. Earlier referral to the hospice program allows the hospice team to fully understand what is important to the patient and tailor the plan of care to meet his or her unique needs.

Medicare, Medicaid and other medical assistance programs provide coverage for hospice services with no out-of-pocket cost to patients and their families.

Most commercial and private insurance companies offer hospice benefits as well and coverage can vary.

Our skilled social workers will assist patients and their families if alternative caregiving or living arrangements need to be made.

Yes. The patient’s primary care physician can continue to work closely with the hospice medical director and interdisciplinary team to develop a plan of care that ensures the patient’s end-of-life preferences are met.

If a patient improves while receiving hospice care, the hospice team works closely with the patient, family and physician to create a plan for discharge and ongoing care.

How Do I Qualify For Hospice Care?

Hospice Care is for people with many different health conditions and diagnosis. Each diagnosis has different criteria, so the best way to know if you may qualify for hospice is to speak with your physician or to call us to discuss further.

Here are a few common requirements for hospice admission:

  • Patient has a confirmed diagnosis of a life-limiting illness with a prognosis of six months or less 
  • Physician and patient have determined that curative therapy is no longer available or desired 
  • Patient, family and physician are aware of prognosis and agree with a comfort-oriented approach to care 

If you are unsure whether you or your loved one is ready for hospice care, contact Devoted Healthcare directly (951) 330-4717.

What are the Different Types of Hospice Care?

Levels of Care

Hospice patients may require differing intensities of care during the course of their disease. While patients may be admitted at any level of care, changes in their status may require a change in their level of care.

The Medicare Hospice Benefit affords patients four levels of care to meet their clinical needs and has very specific criteria for each level:

ROUTINE HOME CARE, GENERAL INPATIENT CARE, CONTINUOUS HOME CARE, and INPATIENT RESPITE CARE.

Payment for each covers all aspects of the patient’s care related to the terminal illness, including all services delivered by the interdisciplinary team, medication, medical equipment and supplies.

  • ROUTINE HOSPICE CARE (RHC) is the most common level of hospice care. With this type of care, an individual has elected to receive hospice care at their residence.
  • CONTINUOUS HOME CARE (CHC) is care provided for between 8 and 24 hours a day to manage pain and other acute medical symptoms. CHC services must be predominately nursing care, supplemented with caregiver and hospice aide services and are intended to maintain the terminally ill patient at home during a pain or symptom crisis.
  • INPATIENT RESPITE CARE (IRC) is available to provide temporary relief to the patient’s primary caregiver. Respite care can be provided in a hospital, hospice facility, or a long-term care facility that has sufficient 24-hour nursing personnel present.
  • GENERAL INPATIENT CARE (GIP) is provided for pain control or other acute symptom management that cannot feasibly be provided in any other setting. GIP begins when other efforts to manage symptoms are not sufficient. GIP can be provided in a Medicare certified hospital, hospice inpatient facility, or nursing facility that has registered nursing available 24 hours a day to provide direct patient care.