To qualify for hospice care, this condition must be met:

The person must be certified as terminally ill by his or her doctor and the hospice medical director. “Terminally ill” means having a life expectancy of six months or less if the disease runs its normal course.

Hospice care is offered for two periods of 90 days, followed by an unlimited number of 60-day periods, as long as the physician recertifies that the patient is not getting better and is still terminal. A patient may leave hospice care if his or her condition improves, and reenter if the condition worsens.