hospice_care
Eligibility for care
Medicare has three key eligibility criteria:
- The patient's doctor and the hospice medical director use their best clinical judgment to certify that the patient is terminally ill with a life expectancy of six months or less, if the disease runs it's normal course.
- The patient chooses to receive hospice care rather than curative treatments for their illness.
- The patient enrolls in the Medicare-certified hospice program.
Payment for hospice
- The cost of hospice can be covered by a variety of sources. Alpine Hospice is a Medicare and Medicaid certified agency. There are no co-pay or out-of-pocket costs for qualified Medicare beneficiaries.
- Medicaid and many private insurance companies also pay hospice benefits with minimal personal costs.
- Alpine Hospice is on several private insurance panels and will accept other private insurance plans where allowed.
- Alpine staff can assist families with insurance preauthorization, private pay options and limited charitable care.