Hospice care in the Mid-Hudson

What does hospice provide?

Hospice provides a team, a doctor, nurses, aides, a social worker, a chaplain and volunteers, focused on comfort for a person with a life expectancy of six months or less, along with medications and equipment for the illness and support for the family.

Hospices with New York licenses and offices in the two counties: Hospice of Orange & Sullivan Counties Inc, Hudson Valley Hospice.

Who qualifies for hospice?

Anyone whose doctor and the hospice medical director certify a life expectancy of six months or less if the illness runs its usual course, and who chooses comfort care instead of curative treatment.

People can leave hospice and return later, and benefits continue past six months if the doctor recertifies.

Does Medicare pay for hospice?

Yes: Medicare's hospice benefit covers the team, drugs and equipment related to the terminal illness, at home, in an assisted living residence or in a nursing home, with little or no cost to the patient.

It does not cover room and board in a facility.

What should families expect in the last weeks with hospice?

Expect regular nurse visits that increase as needs grow, an aide for bathing and personal care, medications for pain and breathlessness delivered to the home, and a 24-hour phone line; hospice also offers continuous care at home during a crisis and short inpatient stays when symptoms cannot be controlled.

Families are not expected to manage alone. Ask the hospice for its after-hours response time, and keep the phone number by the bed.

How does hospice differ from palliative care?

Palliative care is comfort-focused care at any stage of serious illness, alongside treatment, while hospice is for people with six months or less to live who are no longer seeking a cure.

Both aim to relieve pain and symptoms; hospice adds Medicare's hospice team and equipment.

Can hospice serve someone in assisted living or a nursing home?

Yes: hospice serves patients wherever they live, including assisted living residences and nursing homes, working alongside the facility's own staff.

Ask the residence which hospices it works with most often.

How do we choose a hospice?

Ask how fast a nurse comes after hours, how often aides and nurses visit, where inpatient care happens when symptoms cannot be controlled at home, and what bereavement support the family gets.

The state roster lists each licensed hospice with an office in the two counties.

How is hospice licensed across Dutchess and Orange?

This is how New York's roster divides hospice between the two counties; agencies and hospices carry no bed count.