What Is Hospice?
Hospice is comfort-focused care for patients facing a serious, life-limiting illness when curative treatments are no longer effective or no longer wanted. Rather than trying to cure the illness, hospice focuses on relieving pain, managing symptoms, and supporting the patient's emotional, spiritual, and family well-being.
Hospice is a benefit you elect — you choose comfort care as your goal, and an interdisciplinary team comes to wherever you call home to deliver it. Most patients receive hospice at home; care can also happen in an assisted living community, skilled nursing facility, or a hospice inpatient setting.
Who Qualifies?
To enroll in hospice under Medicare or Medi-Cal, two physicians — typically your attending physician and the hospice medical director — must certify that your illness is terminal, meaning a life expectancy of six months or less if the illness runs its normal course. You sign a statement choosing the hospice benefit, and you can revoke that choice at any time.
Conditions that commonly qualify
Cancer
Advanced cancers where curative treatment has been discontinued or is no longer effective.
Advanced Heart Disease
End-stage heart failure or other progressive cardiac conditions.
COPD & Lung Disease
Advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other end-stage respiratory illnesses.
Alzheimer's & Dementia
Advanced dementia where the patient can no longer communicate meaningfully or perform basic daily activities.
ALS & Neurological Disease
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson's, and other progressive neurological conditions.
End-Stage Kidney or Liver Disease
Kidney failure with discontinued dialysis, or advanced liver disease.
A six-month prognosis is a clinical estimate, not a deadline. Many patients live longer than expected once symptoms are well managed. If you continue to need hospice beyond six months, your hospice physician can re-certify you for additional benefit periods.
Common Myths About Hospice
These are the misconceptions we hear most often. Each one keeps families from getting care that could help them.
Hospice means giving up.
Hospice is choosing comfort and dignity, not death. Many patients feel relief, regain their appetite, and find time for what matters most once aggressive treatments are set aside.
Hospice hastens death.
Research consistently shows hospice patients often live as long as, or longer than, similar patients who do not enroll. Better symptom control, fewer hospitalizations, and emotional support all contribute.
You have to stop all your medications.
Hospice continues medications that relieve symptoms — pain, nausea, anxiety, shortness of breath. Only treatments aimed at curing the terminal illness are paused; comfort medications are not.
Hospice is only for cancer patients.
Any terminal illness with a six-month prognosis qualifies — including heart disease, lung disease, dementia, kidney failure, ALS, and many others.
Hospice is only for the very last days.
Hospice is most beneficial when started early — weeks or months before the end of life, not days. Earlier enrollment means more time for symptom control, family preparation, and meaningful moments together.
What to Expect After You Enroll
Within 48 hours of admission, an RN case manager visits to complete an initial assessment, set up the care plan with you, and arrange any medications or equipment you need. Most equipment — hospital beds, oxygen, wheelchairs, commodes — is delivered to your home at no cost.
Your interdisciplinary team — physician, nurses, hospice aide, medical social worker, chaplain, and bereavement coordinator — meets every two weeks to review your care plan. RN visits are typically one to three times a week, with aide and other team members on a schedule that fits your needs. A nurse is on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The plan of care is yours. If something isn't working, tell us — we adjust. If a symptom gets worse, call the on-call nurse. If comfort can't be achieved at home, we can move you temporarily to an inpatient facility for more intensive care, then back home when stable.
Where Hospice Happens
You choose where you receive care. The hospice team comes to you.
At Home
Most hospice care happens in the patient's home — house, apartment, or family member's home — wherever feels familiar and safe.
Assisted Living
Hospice teams come to assisted living communities to deliver the same level of care as we would in a private home.
Skilled Nursing Facility
If you live in a skilled nursing facility, hospice care can be delivered there. Medi-Cal additionally covers room and board for qualifying patients.
Inpatient Hospice
For short periods of acute symptom management, care can shift to an inpatient hospice setting until the patient is stable enough to return home.
You Can Stop or Pause Hospice
Electing hospice is not a one-way door. If you decide to pursue curative treatment again, you can revoke the hospice benefit at any time and return to standard Medicare or your other insurance. You can also re-elect hospice later if your situation changes. There is no penalty and no waiting period.
Have Questions About Hospice?
Our care team can answer your questions, verify your coverage, or help you start a referral. There's no obligation — only listening and information.