November is National Hospice Month
November is National Hospice and Palliative Care Month. This year's theme is "It’s About How You Live."
Hospice and palliative care programs across the country are reaching out to raise awareness about hospice and palliative care. Hospice is not a place but high-quality care that enables patients and families to focus on living as fully as possible despite a life-limiting illness. Palliative care brings this holistic model of care to people earlier in the course of a serious illness.
Every year, I get questions on how Medicare plans work with hospice. Hospice and palliative care programs provide pain management, symptom control, psychosocial support, and spiritual care to patients and their families when a cure is not possible. These programs combine the highest level of quality medical care with the emotional and spiritual support that families need most when facing a serious illness or the end of life. Everyone goes back to Original Medicare for hospice and no copayment or coinsurance is required by the patient.
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