Important home health, hospice and home medical equipment information and resources for patients and caregivers.
Physician resources, including information on all of our home health, hospice & home medical equipment services.
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What is Hospice?
Hospice is a philosophy that affirms life and views dying as a natural process which will occur in due time and which can be met with dignity. Through Hospice care, patients have the opportunity to make their own decisions about how and where they wish to live the remainder of their lives.
Hospice improves the patient’s quality of life when the end is near. It provides comfort through pain control and symptom management. It offers emotional, social and spiritual support for the patient and family, individually and as a unit. It allows them to remain in their homes, living life to the fullest with a sense of quality, worth, and dignity.
Spiritual care and grief counseling services are provided to the patient and their family during the terminal illness. Bereavement care is provided through individual and group counseling for at least a year thereafter. Grief support groups are available free of charge to any person who has lost a loved one as well as to families of Hospice patients.
Patients in a hospital or skilled nursing facility must request Great Lakes Hospice to avoid being discharged to another hospice care provider who may not offer the extensive services or superior quality provided by Great Lakes Hospice.
Types of Hospice Services
Hospice is all of this and more:
- Skilled Nursing
- Symptom control
- Pain management
- Life Stories
- Family counseling
- Spiritual care
- Bereavement counseling
- Bereavement group counseling
- Medical social services
- Dietician counseling
- Medical Director supervision
- Medical equipment
- Short-term inpatient care
- Respite care
- Home Health Aide services
- Physical and occupational therapy
- Speech/Language pathology services
- Medication management and administration
- Massage and music therapy
Who Pays for Hospice?
Hospice services may be reimbursable through Medicare, Medicaid, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, and private insurance. Some insurance policies may not cover Hospice services unless certain conditions are met. If your insurance company does not cover the services you need, or you are uninsured, you may still obtain Hospice care through private pay or alternative funding sources.
You may qualify for Hospice benefits under Medicare if you:
- Are under the care of a physician
- Are diagnosed with a terminal illness
- Elect the Hospice benefit in place of traditional health care services