Hospice Services of Alabama

What is Hospice?

Hospice care is a holistic approach intended for patients with terminal or advanced illnesses that can no longer be treated or controlled. It involves providing comfort and compassion to people approaching the end of life to help them live as fully as possible during their final moments. Generally, patients will be qualified for hospice care if their physician declares that they are terminally ill and only have six months or less time left to live.

Hospice home care includes many services that allow patients to be cared for from the comforts of their homes like coordination of services, family counseling, medical assistance, nutritional planning, medical equipment needs and pain medication for comfort.

Paying for Hospice

Hospice is covered by almost all medical insurance providers and is also covered by Medicare and Medicaid. The physician will place an order for Hospice if they feel the patient has 6 months or less to live. However, a patient can also be suffereing from a long-term condition which could result in death within 6 months.

Patients often stay on hospice longer than 6 months so the patient must be recertified by the physician every six months to keep retaining hospice services.