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Who pays for Hospice care?

Each and every one of us as citizens in the US has a price tag on our heads, about $26,000 of benefits through hospice. Hospice provides benefits for people for “end of life” care. The money that pays for it is provided through the government, which comes from our tax dollars. We’re in a wonderful country where the money is pooled together for those in need.

When somebody is using hospice services, the services are provided at no cost to them. That company that is providing them, the hospice provider, will bill the government to get reimbursed. So the money itself, at $26,000, can get spent relatively quickly. Some people are on hospice care for years and years and years. While there’s some people that are on it for a few days or weeks. In the end the hospice business itself does very well.

What does hospice provide?

We’re all getting closer to the end of life every day. But somebody who is really truly closer to end of life now could be on hospice for years. They may need nursing care, bathing care. Maybe they need to have some equipment delivered, like a hospital bed or walkers or wheelchairs and so on.

Hospice provides benefits for people for their “end of life” care.  Hospice may provide care, equipment, supplies, nursing visits and so on. They may need 24 hour care, or maybe a few visits a day or a per week. Some people come into our home and they are on hospice services already and they may be  with us for months or years.

Hospice is not a place, rather it’s a business. Some hospices have a building where you can go and stay, but nobody goes into hospice for “in house care” for more than seven days. That’s their limit. Then they have to go back to their own home or into an Assisted Living home.

How many hospice providers are there?

One thing that I learned about hospice providers, is that there are more than one. There are hundreds of hospice businesses. Some of them have a few dozen people that they’re taking care of and some of them are larger and they have hundreds and hundreds of clients.

We work hand in hand with hospice providers. They give us referrals and we give them referrals. One of the things I truly appreciate about hospice is, for the most part, their heart is in the right place. They really want that resident, that individual who needs to help, to get the care that they need.   They get business from referrals that we refer to them and we get business from people they refer to us. We help those individuals, the residents, and in their case, their patients.

Hospice is a wonderful service that we utilize when appropriate in Residential Assisted Living. Someday you or your family member may need hospice services so don’t hesitate to call them.

You can also subscribe to our iTunes for on the go listening:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/assisted-living-networks-podcast/id1360517721?mt=2

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