Hospice Services
Stop. Pause. Let’s take a breath. Navigating the hospice system may be a whole new world for you, and that’s OK. The hospice benefit provided by Medicare, Medi-Cal, and private insurance providers covers many aspects of care and gives you and your loved one certain guaranteed rights.
What exactly is hospice?
Hospice is a program of care and support for patients who are terminally ill and their families. Hospice focuses on quality of life, to make the final phase of life a fulfilling time. Its goal is to provide comfort, not a cure for the patient’s illness.
What services are covered by hospice care?
Though hospice care usually takes place in the patient’s home, your hospice benefit likely covers care in a hospice inpatient facility. Depending on the patient’s illness, the plan of care created by your hospice team may include any or all of these services:
- Physician services (MD, DO, NP, PA)
- Nursing care
- Social worker services
- Spiritual counseling
- Hospice aide and homemaker services
- Bereavement counseling for the family for over a year after death
- Medical equipment like hospital beds, oxygen, wheelchairs, and more
- Medical supplies like diapers, underpads, wound supplies, catheters, and more
- Prescription drugs & pharmacy services
- Dietary counseling
- Physical and occupational therapy
- Speech-language pathology services
- Short-term inpatient care for managing pain and symptoms
- Short-term respite care when you or your caregivers need a break
- Any other Medicare-covered services needed to manage symptoms that your hospice team recommends
What is not covered by hospice?
When a patient enters hospice care, it’s because they’ve decided they no longer want to pursue curative treatments for their illness and conditions, or the patient’s doctor has determined that efforts made to cure the illness aren’t working.
Once a patient has entered hospice, the hospice benefit will no longer cover these services (though they may be covered by other healthcare and insurance providers):
- Treatments aimed at curing the patient’s terminal illness and/or related conditions.
- Care from providers that wasn’t arranged by the hospice medical team. The hospice team must give or arrange all the care the patient receives for their terminal illness or related conditions. Though the patient can still see their regular doctor, nurse practitioner, or physician’s assistant if they’ve chosen him or her as their attending medical professional.
- Prescriptions that do not treat the patient’s terminal illness and/or related conditions.
- Room and board outside of short-term inpatient or respite care services arranged by the hospice team — unless the patient is a Medi-Cal beneficiary.
- Care received as a hospital outpatient or inpatient, unless this care is arranged by the hospice team or the care is unrelated to the terminal illness and related conditions.
These matters can be quite blurry, and we advise all patients and their caregivers to consult their hospice team before receiving any care or service outside the hospice benefit.
How do I pay for hospice care?
Medicare, Medi-Cal, and private insurance all have hospice benefits that cover the cost of hospice care, which includes anything related to the patient’s terminal illness and related conditions, comfort, pain management, and symptom management. For Medicare and Medi-Cal beneficiaries, there is no deductible.
Here’s what you’ll pay:
Your monthly Medicare Part A (hospital insurance), Medicare Part B (medical insurance), and Medicare Part D (drug coverage) premiums, if you have any.
A copay of up to $5 per prescription for outpatient prescription drugs to manage pain and symptoms.
In the rare case that the hospice benefit doesn’t cover your drug, your hospice team will contact your Medicare drug plan (if you have one) to check if it covers your medication.
5% of the Medicare-approved amount for inpatient respite care.
Original Medicare will cover care for the patient’s terminal illness and related conditions. Once you start receiving hospice care, your hospice benefit should cover virtually everything you need related to the terminal illness, even if you remain in a Medicare Advantage plan or other Medicare health plan.
Hospice generally covers and coordinates the bulk of your medical care, even for conditions unrelated to the terminal illness.
Why In the Arms of Grace Hospice?
IAGH is a family-owned and operated boutique hospice serving the communities of Los Angeles and its surrounding counties. We believe that while hospice may be a difficult time in one’s life, it certainly doesn’t have to be the worst. Our team goes above and beyond to help patients and families gain dignity, peace, and resolution in the face of loss.