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MEDICARE HOSPICE BENEFIT
| The Medicare Hospice Benefit, initiated in 1983, is covered under Medicare Part A (hospital insurance). Medicare beneficiaries who choose hospice care receive a full scope of non-curative medical and support services for their terminal illness. Hospice care also supports the family and loved ones of the patient through a variety of services, enhancing the value of the Medicare Hospice Benefit.
The Medicare Hospice Benefit provides for:
- Physician services
- Nursing care
- Medical appliances and supplies
- Drugs for symptom management and pain relief
- Short-term inpatient and respite care
- Homemaker and home health aide services
- Counseling
- Social work service
- Spiritual care
- Volunteer participation
- Bereavement services
Who is Eligible?
Medicare has three key eligibility criteria:
- The patient’s doctor and the hospice medical director use their best clinical judgment to certify that the patient is terminally ill with a life expectancy of six months or less, if the disease runs its normal course;
- The patient chooses to receive hospice care rather than curative treatments for their illness; and
- The patient enrolls in a Medicare-approved hospice program
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