How to choose the RIGHT Hospice Agency
for You and Your Loved One.
What is most important to you and your loved one when it comes to end of life cares?
What is most important to you and your loved one when it comes to the end of life journey?
What do you expect from your hospice team?
Below is a list of questions that you can ask the hospice agency representative before signing any hospice admission paperwork:
- Are there nurses available by phone 24-hours a day?
- If I can’t get ahold of our assigned hospice nurse during the day, will there be another nurse in the office that can help?
- What type of DME can I get for my loved one?
- What medications will be covered by hospice? What medications will not be covered by hospice and will remain our responsibility?
- Will your hospice team provide antibiotics if my loved one develops an infection?
- Will your hospice team collect specimens or do testing for possible infections (such as a urinary tract infection or pneumonia)?
- Can my loved one still go to the podiatrist?
- Can my loved one still go to his/her primary MD for visits?
- Do your after-hours nurses live locally?
- Who would I call if I had a problem with our hospice services/team?
- How will you respect and maintain our privacy?
- How often do your nurses provide visits to home hospice patients?
- Who answers your main phone after hours?
- Do you have Chaplain and Social Workers available 24-hours a day for support?
- Where will the hospice covered medications come from?
- Will we ever have a visit from the Hospice Medical Director? or a Hospice Nurse Practitioner?
- Besides the nurse, social worker, chaplain, and hospice aide, what other services does your hospice agency provide?
- How long have your hospice nurses been with your hospice agency?
- Are you a for-profit hospice? or a not-for-profit hospice?
- Do you work on commissions for signing-on hospice patients to your agency?
- Which supplies are included?
- Is it possible to die peacefully and comfortably in our home?
- What do you love most about your hospice agency?
Choose the Hospice Agency that best works for you and your loved one.
It is OKAY to interview and meet with multiple hospice agencies until you find the one that works best for you and your loved one.
REMEMBER THE FOLLOWING:
*Some of the best hospice agencies don’t necessarily have all of the different services available like other hospices, but instead, the best hospices have staff that truly care for their hospice patients and are passionate about providing comforting, end of life cares.
*The best hospices have staff that go above and beyond in words, cares, and support.
*The best hospices have a close-knit team that communicates effectively with each other and with the hospice patients & their loved ones.
Hospice-101.com: Hospice for your Loved One 
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