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 People often mistakenly believe that hospice is not appropriate until the last days of a person’s life. In reality, hospice can provide care many months earlier to improve quality of life.
Receiving hospice early, rather than in the last few days or weeks, means a patient enjoys a longer period of stable, controlled symptoms and focuses on other parts of life, while the caregiver receives support and guidance. If a person is eligible for hospice, there is no reason to wait to start care.
Eligibility
In its most simple form, eligibility for Optimal Hospice Care includes the following:
- A person has been diagnosed with an illness or condition that has a life expectancy of six months or less, assuming the illness runs its normal course.
- The diagnosis is certified by their personal physician and the hospice medical director.
- The patient agrees to focus medical care on comfort and quality of life and elects for hospice care.
- The person lives within Optimal Hospice Care’s service area.
Optimal Hospice Care does not discriminate and provides services regardless of age, diagnosis, sex, religion, background, orientation, or ability to pay.
Common Hospice Diagnoses
Hospice provides care to anyone with a chronic illness or condition who meets the basic admission criteria. The diagnosis is not just for cancer, but includes such illnesses as:
- ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease)
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Cardiomyopathy
- Congestive Heart Failure
- Dementia
- Heart disease
- Liver disease
- Multiple Sclerosis
- End stage renal or pulmonary disease
- Stroke
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