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Hospice
Hospice is a comprehensive, medically directed, team-oriented program of care that emphasizes pain control and symptom management rather than curative treatment. It follows the diagnosis of a terminal illness that no longer responds to routine medical care. The hospice team is comprised of physicians, pharmacists registered nurses, social workers, chaplains, certified nursing assistants, bereavement counselors and volunteers.
Hospice offers patients and their loved ones a choice of medical care that treats the person, not the disease; focuses on the family, not the individual; and emphasizes the quality of life, not duration. In most cases, hospice care allows people with terminal illnesses and their families to remain together in the comfort and dignity of their own homes.
All Hospice programs are licensed by state health departments and are Medicare certified. A certified hospice is eligible for Medicare payment and, in some states, for Medicaid payment for hospice services.
Hospice care is based on the needs of the family, not on ability to pay. Hospice care is covered by the Medicare hospice benefit, as well as by many private insurance plans, HMOs, PPOs, VA, and CHAMPUS.
Hospice delivers several levels of care in the most comfortable environment for the patient:
- Routine home care - intermittent care provided in the patient's home, nursing home or assisted living facility.
- Continuous care - hospice care for a minimum of eight consecutive hours that is utilized when patients develop acute medical symptoms requiring more than routine home care for symptom control.
- In-patient care - utilized for the management of acute symptoms that cannot be controlled in the home. In-patient care is delivered in "contract beds" located in hospitals, long-term care skilled nursing facilities or subacute facilities.
- Respite care - provides a brief respite (up to five consecutive days) for the primary caregivers. Care is delivered in an institutional setting.
Home Care
Home Care is appropriate when a person prefers to stay home, but needs ongoing care that cannot easily or effectively be provided solely by family and friends. Before receiving home care, a specific plan of treatment is designed by a physician, nurse and/or medical social worker in cooperation with the people who will provide the care.
At Beverly Home Care, we have built a team of skilled professionals whose expertise covers a variety of home health needs. All Beverly Home Care professionals are devoted to providing flexible, individualized care with compassion.
Depending on the needs of the individual, a tailored home heath care program is developed and may include any of the following:
- Intermittent Visits are physician-prescribed, home nursing visits provided to homebound persons in accordance with an approved care plan (time and number of visits). Providers of this service typically include skilled nursing and home health aides. The majority of intermittent home care visits are provided to Medicare patients.
- Private Duty - is home care nursing (and other allied professional) visits provided to non-Medicare (e.g., managed care, private insurance and private pay) patients on an hourly and/or shift basis. Services typically include skilled nursing and home-maker visits, and are provided by a mix of nurses and home health aides.
- Hospice is a comprehensive, medically-directed care program to treat and support terminally ill patients (life expectancy of 6 months or less) and their families. Services are prescribed by a physician, and typically include physician services, nursing visits, home health aide and homemaker services, palliative medications, therapy visits, social work services, spiritual support and bereavement care. The majority of hospice care is provided to Medicare patients with cancer and end-stage chronic illness (e.g., congestive heart failure) diagnoses.
- Home Infusion services are the administration of medications and fluids through an IV device or tube. This treatment modality must be prescribed by a physician and is primarily provided to private insurance patients. Common service lines include:
- Antibiotic Therapy (40%)
- Enteral Nutritution (24%)
- Total Parenteral Nutrition (17%)
- Pain Management (7%)
- Chemotherapy (5%)
- Hydration Therapy (3%)
- Other (4%).
- Home medical equipment includes two components: durable medical equipment (DME) and "retail". DME is the "traditional" definition of this segment, and involves the sale and/or rental of medical products, devices, and equipment for use in the home which can stand repeated use (e.g., oxygen concentrators, motorized bed, wheelchairs, etc.). The retail segment is a new (but fast growing) niche comprised of a vast array of items that are self-paid by the patient. Retail products range from lower cost items that provide greater independence on day-to-day activities (aids for daily living) to more expensive item (beds and wheelchairs) that are historically associated with "traditional" DME.