Myths about Hospice
A person has to have cancer to have hospice care.
This is not true. Any life-limiting illness where a prognosis of six months or less to live qualifies a person for hospice care. Increasingly, patients with diseases other than cancer are becoming hospice patients.
I cannot live alone and have hospice.
A person can live alone and have hospice care. Supportive family and friends along with regular visits from the hospice care team can enable a person to remain alone in their home.
I must be giving up if I have hospice care.
This is not true. Having hospice care means that the patient has decided to no longer have curative treatment for their illness. Instead, they prefer to have quality of life in the time remaining that they have.
Nursing home patients cannot have hospice care.
Hospice care can be available to patients in their homes, in an inpatient unit, or in any place they call “home” which includes assisted living facilities and nursing homes. It is quite common to have hospice care in a nursing facility.
Hospice care is only for older people.
Hospice is for anyone who needs the care. There are no age restrictions. Older adults most often receive the care which leads to this myth.
A patient will die sooner if they have hospice care.
This is not true, and oftentimes patients actually live longer as there is better control of their pain and symptoms, there is less stress within the family unit, and an adjustment to comfort care rather than curative treatment brings a sense of relief to both patient and family.
All hospices are the same.
All hospices are not the same. A hospice can be a community-based, non-profit organization, which is what State of the Heart Home Health & Hospice is, or it can be a for-profit and part of a national chain. When exploring hospice options, it is important to ask for the local hospice which has a track record and is a non-profit entity.
A hospice patient must figure out how to pay for hospice care.
A hospice social worker helps with questions and concerns about insurance. Medicare, Medicaid and most private insurance companies pay for hospice care. In addition, no patient is ever turned away from State of the Heart based on an inability to pay.
