The Many Facets of Hospice Care

Reasons to choose hospice

Many think of hospice as a program that offers emotional support to those with terminal illness, and it does, but hospice today is an integrated program that offers much more than just emotional support; the list of hospice services covers doctors, nurses, home health aides, medical equipment and supplies, spiritual, dietary and other counseling, continuous care during crisis periods, bereavement services and trained volunteers who help in the home. Hospice isn’t supplementary support for patients who are desperately ill; hospice care actually supplants regular medical care, empowering the patient themselves (along with medical staff) to determine what treatment they want as they near the end of life. This not only improves the patient experience but, according to a 2007 Duke University study of hospice care, reduces end-of-life medical costs by an average of $2,309 per hospice beneficiary.

This quote, from an article in The River Journal, does a fantastic job of describing the many facets of hospice care. In addition to making patients more comfortable, studies are now showing that the benefits of hospice care can actually extend the lives of those patients beyond other with similar ailments who choose to undergo hospital care. Hospice care puts patients in control, creating a program catered to the individual, which ensures the best care possible.