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Myths vs Facts
Myth: Hospice is a place.
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Fact: Hospice care takes place wherever the patient calls home, including skilled nursing, independent living, and assisted living facilities.
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Myth: Hospice is only for patients who have given up hope and are close to death.
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Fact: Hospice is about living life as fully as possible with great quality of care. In fact, patients live an estimated 38 days longer with hospice care.
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Myth: Families will have to pay a lot of money for hospice care.
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Fact: Hospice care, including medical supplies, durable equipment and medications related to the hospice diagnosis, is covered 100% by your Medicare benefit. Most private insurers also cover hospice.
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Myth: Since hospice care is only available for six months, delay enrollment as long as possible.
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Fact: Hospice patients can stay on hospice care as long as medically necessary while the disease takes its normal course. Hospice eligibility requires a prognosis of six months or less should the disease take it’s natural course, but patients who survive that period can graduate from hospice care, or be re-certified for hospice care as long as medically necessary.
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Myth: Hospice gives the patient so much medicine that the patient is out of touch, sleeps too much and becomes addicted to pain medication.
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Fact: One of the goals of hospice care is to make the patient comfortable, pain free and as alert as possible.
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Myth: Hospice uses morphine which causes the patient to die sooner.
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Fact: Hospice uses morphine and other pain medications to keep the patient comfortable. It does not hasten nor cause death.
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Myth: Hospice stops feeding patients and they become dehydrated and starve to death.
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Fact: Hospice encourages patients to eat and drink only what they want. It is natural for some patients to not feel hunger or thirst. This is part of the dying process as the body shuts down.
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Myth: Hospice is only for the sick family member.
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Fact: The focus of hospice is not only on medical care, but on the emotional, social and spiritual needs of the entire family. We assist and educate family members and caregivers through the disease and death process and offer bereavement support during the thirteen months following death.
Myth: Hospice provides 24-hour care.
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Fact: The hospice team visits patients intermittently, and is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for support and care.
Myth: It is a difficult process to begin hospice care.
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Fact: It only takes one phone call. A-Vow Hospice will take care of everything else. We will work with your physician to determine if hospice care is appropriate and to arrange for services to begin.
Myth: Once a patient elects hospice care, they can no longer receive care from their
primary physician.
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Fact: A-Vow Hospice will coordinate with your primary care physician. They will be consulted and updated on all aspects of your care.
Myth: Once a patient elects hospice care, he or she cannot return to traditional medical treatment.
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Fact: Patients always have the right to reinstate traditional care at any time, for any reason. If a patient's condition improves or the disease goes into remission, he or she can graduate from a hospice and return to aggressive, curative measures, if so desired. If a discharged patient wants to return to hospice care, we at A-Vow guarantee
re-admission when that time is necessary.