Hospice care is a Medicare-covered benefit that provides comfort-focused medical, emotional, and spiritual support for people with a terminal illness and a life expectancy of six months or less. It is delivered by an interdisciplinary team and is available wherever a patient calls home. Hospice does not mean giving up. It does not hasten death, and it does not abandon a family after a loved one passes.
This guide is written to give you a clear, honest picture of what hospice care is, what it covers, and what it does not, so you can make an informed decision for someone you love without confusion standing in the way.
What Is Hospice Care?
Hospice care is a specialized type of medical care focused on comfort, dignity, and quality of life for people living with a terminal illness. Rather than pursuing curative treatment, hospice shifts the goal of care toward managing pain and symptoms, supporting emotional and spiritual needs, and caring for the whole family, not just the patient.
Under Medicare guidelines, a patient qualifies for the hospice benefit when a physician certifies that the patient’s illness is expected to follow a course resulting in a life expectancy of six months or less. Importantly, this does not mean a person must be in the final days of life to receive hospice care. Many patients receive hospice support for weeks or even months.
Hospice care is provided wherever the patient lives. That may be a private home, an assisted living facility, a nursing home, or another residential setting. The focus is always on bringing care to the patient, not moving the patient to a new environment.
What Hospice Care Includes
Hospice is not a single service. It is a coordinated benefit delivered by a team of professionals, each focused on a different dimension of the patient’s and family’s needs.
Medical and Nursing Care
A registered nurse visits regularly to assess the patient’s condition, manage medications, monitor symptoms, and communicate with the hospice physician. Nurses are also available by phone around the clock so families always have someone to call when something changes. You can learn more about what our nursing team provides on the Registered Nurses page.
Pain and Symptom Management
One of the most important things hospice provides is expert, consistent management of pain, breathlessness, nausea, anxiety, and other symptoms that can significantly affect quality of life. Medications related to the hospice diagnosis are covered under the Medicare hospice benefit.
Personal Care Assistance
Certified nursing assistants (CNAs) provide hands-on support with bathing, grooming, and other activities of daily living. This relieves significant physical and emotional burden from family caregivers who have often been managing these tasks alone.
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Explore Your Care OptionsSocial Work Support
A licensed social worker is part of every hospice care team. Their role is to help families navigate practical matters such as advance directives, benefits coordination, and care transitions, while also providing emotional support during a period that can feel overwhelming.
Spiritual Care
Hospice recognizes that the end of life is not only a medical event. It is a deeply human one. Spiritual care counselors are available to patients and families of all faith backgrounds, including those with no religious affiliation, to provide presence, reflection, and support for questions that go beyond physical care.
Medical Equipment and Supplies
The hospice benefit covers durable medical equipment such as hospital beds, wheelchairs, and oxygen, as well as supplies directly related to the hospice diagnosis. These are delivered to the patient’s home so families do not have to arrange them independently.
Bereavement Support for the Family
Hospice care does not end when a patient passes. Families receive bereavement counseling and support for at least 13 months following the loss. Grief does not follow a schedule, and neither does the support hospice provides. Learn more about Bereavement Care.
24-Hour On-Call Support
A hospice nurse is available by phone at any hour, day or night. When something changes at 2 in the morning, you do not have to decide between calling 911 and doing nothing. You have a clinical team member you can reach immediately.
What Hospice Care Does Not Include
Understanding what hospice does not cover is just as important as knowing what it does.
Hospice does not include curative treatment for the terminal diagnosis. When a patient enrolls in hospice, they are choosing to redirect care toward comfort rather than cure. Treatment for unrelated conditions may still continue depending on the circumstances, but aggressive intervention aimed at curing the primary diagnosis is not part of the hospice benefit.
Hospice does not mean care stops. A common fear is that choosing hospice means a loved one will receive less attention or fewer visits. The opposite is generally true. Hospice brings a dedicated team to your loved one on a regular schedule, with around-the-clock support available between visits.
Hospice does not hasten death. Research consistently shows that hospice care does not shorten life. A study found out that hospice patients live 29 days longer than similar patients who did not choose hospice.
Hospice is not only for the final days. Many families wait too long because they believe hospice is reserved for someone’s last 48 to 72 hours. In reality, patients can receive hospice care for months, and the earlier care begins, the more time a family has to benefit from the full support the team provides.
Who Is Hospice Care For?
Hospice is appropriate for people living with any terminal illness, not only cancer. Common diagnoses that may lead to hospice include advanced heart disease, COPD, dementia, kidney failure, liver disease, neurological conditions, and others.
If you are wondering whether a loved one may be eligible, our Eligibility Guidelines page explains the clinical criteria in plain language.
Take: Hospice Assessment Quiz
How Is Hospice Different From Palliative Care?
This is one of the most frequently asked questions families have, and it is a good one.
Palliative care is specialized medical care focused on relieving symptoms and improving quality of life for people with serious illness. It can be provided at any stage of illness, alongside curative treatment, and does not require a terminal prognosis.
Hospice is a specific type of palliative care available to patients who have a terminal prognosis of six months or less and who have chosen to focus on comfort rather than cure. All hospice is palliative care, but not all palliative care is hospice.
Foundations Hospice provides hospice services and may offer palliative care services as programs and licensing allow, depending on patient eligibility.
What Does the Medicare Hospice Benefit Cover?
Medicare covers hospice care under Medicare Part A. The benefit includes:
- Physician and nursing services
- Medical social work
- Spiritual and emotional counseling
- Home health aide and homemaker services
- Medications related to the hospice diagnosis
- Medical equipment and supplies
- Short-term inpatient care for symptom management
- Respite care for family caregivers
- Bereavement support for the family
Medicare, Medicaid and many private insurance plans offer comparable hospice benefits. If you are unsure what your loved one’s coverage includes, our care team can walk through it with you in a simple, pressure-free conversation.
Get Started With Hospice Care in Louisiana
If you are reading this because someone in your life is facing a serious illness, we want you to know that asking questions is the right thing to do. Call us at (225) 209-5629 or schedule a care consultation with our team today.
There is no obligation that comes with a conversation, and no question is too small or too hard. Our team serves families across Southeast Louisiana, including Livingston, St. Tammany, Baton Rouge, and surrounding parishes.