Frequently Asked Questions About Rice Hospice Care

How can Rice Hospice help?

Rice Hospice helps patients and their families with end-of-life care, comfort, and compassion. We provide expertise in pain relief and symptom management, as well as assistance with medical equipment and helping you live life your way. We offer comprehensive care and comfort, along with education and support. Everyone's concerns are unique, and care may address nursing, emotional health, or spiritual needs. It may also include visits, music, massage, listening, and providing resources.

Hospice care brings hope to help people live life as fully as possible, offers dignity when there is not a cure, and surrounds families with love at one of life's most challenging times.

Who can receive hospice care?

Anyone of any age whose life is limited - by any illness - can receive hospice care. A physician will help determine when in the illness that hospice care would be helpful. Hospice care is appropriate when the following conditions are met:

• The physician believes the patient's life expectancy is six months or less if the disease runs its normal course
• Aggressive treatments are not working or providing relief to the patient
• The patient, family and physician agree and understand that the focus of hospice is on comfort, not cure

Can someone who lives alone receive hospice care?

Many patients, especially if they are receiving hospice care early in their diagnosis are able to live alone. Hospice staff visit with the patient and family about the amount of caregiving needed and help identify resources to ensure a safe environment.

How do you refer someone to hospice care?

Anyone can refer a patient to hospice. To be admitted, the patient must:

• agree to treatment aimed at comfort rather than cure
• have an incurable illness resulting in a limited life expectancy as certified by a physician

What if the patient gets better?

If a patient's condition improves, he or she can be discharged from hospice and return to aggressive treatment or resume daily life. If the patient should at a later time need to return to hospice care, Medicare, Medicaid, and most insurances will allow for additional coverage.

Where is Rice Hospice?

Hospice care is a philosophy of care, not a place. Most hospice patients receive care in the residence of their choice - home, assisted living, adult foster residence, or nursing home.

How is hospice care different than other types of home health care?

The goal for most home health care providers is to help the patient get well. In hospice, the focus is on comfort and support rather than cure.

Hospice care involves a team approach. All members of the care team, which may include physicians, nurses, social workers, clergy, aides, and volunteers, work together to provide care.

Care is provided for the family as well. The patient and the family are considered a unit. The hospice team provides education for the entire family and helps the family be involved in their loved one's care.

Hospice care does not end when the patient dies. Rice Hospice social workers, counselors, and volunteers maintain contact with the family for about one year after the death of their loved one.

When is it time for hospice?

When medical treatments are no longer effective, care becomes focused on comfort and symptom relief. Rice Hospice addresses the physical, emotional, and spiritual concerns of the patient and family. Generally, someone enters hospice when the physician believes life expectancy to be six months or less.
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Who pays for hospice?

Many insurance policies provide basic hospice benefits such as nursing, social worker and hospice aide care. > more

What services are available to Rice Hospice patients and families?

Rice Hospice services and programs can meet a variety of needs that include, but are not limited to:

• skilled nursing care
• pain relief and symptom management
• coordination of medal equipment and supplies
• psycho-social care
• coordination of resources, educational and financial concerns
• spiritual support
• assistance with daily living care, such as dressing, bathing, eating
• respite care
• complementary therapies and special programs
• companionship
• grief support