Curative Hospice Care

Since 2007 Congress and Medicare have realized that, with medical advances such as the CT-Scan, PET-Scan, open heart and by-pass surgery, radiation and chemotherapy that Medicare could not insist that hospice patients cannot take advantage of these possibilities, while fighting his or her disease. Medicare and private insurers adopted an "open access" policy, admitting into hospice-for curative and/or palliative treatment, as long as a doctor said they had no more than six months to live.

Thus hospice has become a comprehensive health care program for the seriously ill, who may or may not be close to death. Indeed, as I have learned, it is not at all rare that a beneficiary can get well enough to graduate from hospice.

This quote from a Huffington Post article describes a major change in hospice care that many are still completely unaware of. No longer must patients choose whether or not to give up curative treatment in return for the comfort and care provided by hospice, they are now able to undergo procedures and treatments that have a chance of improving their prognosis as well. With the ability to provide for physical and mental comfort at home or in a center, combined with the recent changes encouraging curative care as well, hospice is the right choice.