Hospice Care Benefits Patients, Family Members and Caregivers
According to a recent study published by NORC at the University of Chicago, a nonpartisan research organization, hospice care provides multiple benefits to patients, families and caregivers — all while reducing Medicare spending for individuals at the end of life.
In the last year of life, the total costs of care to Medicare for beneficiaries who used hospice was 3.1 percent lower than for beneficiaries who did not use hospice.
Hospice is associated with lower Medicare end-of-life expenditures when hospice lengths of stay are longer than 10 days. Earlier enrollment in hospice reduces Medicare spending even further.
At any length of stay, hospice care benefits patients, family members and caregivers.
Patients in hospice care experience:
- Increased satisfaction and quality of life
- Improved symptom management
- Reduced physical distress
- Reduced grief and emotional distress
At Ohio’s Hospice, we take a holistic approach to care, focusing on comfort, dignity and emotional support. Hospice care usually takes place in the comfort of an individual’s home, but it can be provided in any environment in which a person lives, including a nursing home, assisted living facility or residential care facility, or one of our Hospice Houses or inpatient care centers.
Our hospice care team includes physicians, nurses, social workers, personal care specialists, volunteers, chaplains, and bereavement counselors. The team visits patients on a schedule based upon individual need.
Hospice care facilities can be used when symptom management is needed above what can be provided in the community setting. Medical management can be delivered in the hospice care facility. Once symptoms are under control, the patient can then return to receiving hospice care at home, in an independent care facility, at an assisted living care setting, or at an extended living facility.
Ohio’s Hospice is a partnership of mission-driven, not-for-profit hospices in Ohio committed to a shared vision of strengthening and preserving community-based hospices. Members of Ohio’s Hospice share the values of serving each patient in an atmosphere of hospitality, respect and caring; attending to the social, physical and spiritual needs of each person we are privileged to serve; preserving and enhancing patient dignity; celebrating the life of each individual we serve; and reducing unnecessary suffering in the communities we serve.
Affiliates of Ohio’s Hospice include: Community Care Hospice, Ohio’s Community Mercy Hospice, Ohio’s Hospice at United Church Homes, Ohio’s Hospice LifeCare, Ohio’s Hospice Loving Care, Ohio’s Hospice of Butler & Warren Counties, Ohio’s Hospice of Central Ohio, Ohio’s Hospice of Dayton, Ohio’s Hospice of Fayette County, Ohio’s Hospice of Miami County, and Ohio’s Hospice of Morrow County.
