Criteria for Admission to a Hospice Care Program

Excerpted from The Comfort of Home for Alzheimer'sTM

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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.

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4 months ago

Hello poetman, Thank you for your question. If you'd like, you can post it in our Ask & Answer section, here: ( http://www.caring.com/ask ). I hope that helps! Take care -- Emily | Community Manager


4 months ago

May a patient with pancreatic cancer which has spread to the liver receiving clinic trial tests to prolong life, not cure the disease, be admitted to Hospice? The doctors have said the disease is life-ending and are simply trying to prolong life.


over 1 year ago

What is the criteria for an individual with ALS with less than 6 month life expectancy to qualify for hospice??????


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