Tag Archives: Medicare hospice benefit

When Is the Right Time for Hospice Care?

Many patients living with serious illnesses wait far too long to ask for help

“Queenie Hennessy – ‘I am here to die.’ Sister Mary Inconnue – ‘Pardon me but you are here to live until you die. There is a significant difference.”’ ― Rachel Joyce, The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy In an … Continue reading

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One in Five Hospice Patients Is Discharged Alive

Medicare reimbursement structure and profit motive are largely to blame

Hospice, as most of us understand it, is a model of care that provides comfort and support to people who are terminally ill. The care can be delivered in a hospital, in a nursing home or in the patient’s own … Continue reading

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Patients with End-Stage Renal Disease Rarely Use Hospice

A recent study shows that Medicare’s policy of precluding “curative” care in hospice is largely to blame

End-stage renal disease is a life-limiting illness in which the kidneys are no longer functioning, or are functioning so poorly that they can no longer do their job. In the absence of a kidney transplant, people with this condition require … Continue reading

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