Hospice is an environment for the terminally ill where the main focus is to alleviate pain and suffering through management of pain, reduce stress and anxiety, and provide medical, spiritual, and emotional comfort and support for their loved ones.
Hospice patients may require differing intensities of care during the course of their disease. The Medicare Hospice Benefit affords patients four levels of care to meet their clinical needs: 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. Nearly 97% of hospice care is provided at the routine home care level.
Four Levels of Care
Routine Home Care:
Includes, but is not limited to, nursing and home health aide services. Patients may receive Routine Hospice Care in their home of what they call “home” – in a long-term care or assisted living facility.
Continuous Home Care:
Provided during periods of crisis in which a patient requires continuous nursing care to achieve palliation or management of acute medical symptoms in the patient’s home or facility where they live. In addition to being visited by the team members, the patient will receive up to 24 hours a day care by a licensed nurse and hospice aide.
General Inpatient Care:
Care for pain control and symptom management that cannot effectively be provided in other settings. It is usually of a short-term nature and can be provided in a hospital, hospice unit or long-term care facility.
Respite Care:
Short-term inpatient care provided to the patient when necessary for the purpose of provided a break in caregiving to the patient’s caregiver(s). It is only provided on an occasional basis, for a maximum of five days, approximately every 90 days, in a hospital, hospice unit or long-term care facility.