How Do You Get Continuous Home Care From Hospice?

You can get continuous home care from hospice through Medicare if you require medical attention, consisting primarily of skilled nursing, for at least 8 hours a day. This type of care addresses more acute medical symptoms and provides a higher level of support than routine home hospice care.

Hospice services provide comfort-based care for individuals with a terminal illness and a prognosis of six months or less to live. Rather than seeking to cure the illness, hospice focuses on managing pain and offering emotional or spiritual support to both the patient and their loved ones. Hospice care offers four levels of service to address varying needs:

 

• Routine Home Care: The most common level of care includes standard hospice services at home, including nursing visits, therapies, pain control, medication management and emotional support
• Continuous Home Care: Intensive care during periods of crisis, requiring at least eight hours of predominantly nursing care within a 24-hour period
• Inpatient Respite Care: Temporary relief for primary caregivers, allowing patients to stay in a hospice facility for up to five consecutive days
• General Inpatient Care: Short-term care in a hospital or nursing facility for managing severe symptoms that hospice teams cannot control at home

Eligibility for any level of hospice care under Medicare Part A requires a physician's certification of a terminal illness with a life expectancy of six months or less. Additionally, patients must forgo curative treatments, sign a statement choosing hospice care over other treatment plans covered by Medicare and receive care from a Medicare-approved hospice provider. Once enrolled in hospice care, a patient may become eligible for continuous home care if they meet all the following conditions:

 

• The patient must require care for at least eight hours within a 24-hour period.
• The care must consist predominantly of skilled nursing; Medicare may also cover supplemental types of care, such as homemaker services.
• The patient's hospice agency must provide documentation substantiating the need for continuous home care.

Continuous home care only provides a temporary solution for periods of increased medical need. Patients and families should consult their hospice provider for further guidance.