Paying for Hospice Care – What You Should Know

For anyone considering hospice care, many aspects of the process can be intimidating. Individuals faced with the decision might have understandable misconceptions or fears about the care that they or their loved one will receive. Organizations like Center for Hospice Care hope to help guide individuals through the process in ways that help inform and educate in order to ease the stress of this process.

Center for Hospice Care has served Northern Indiana since 1980, offering consistent and reliable aid to individuals receiving hospice care, as well as their families. Throughout its history, the non-profit organization has worked to address the needs of community members faced with this decision.

One of the biggest misconceptions about hospice is that the care is reserved only for the last few days or weeks of an individual’s life, leading some to put off receiving non-curative compassionate care until the end-stages of a diagnosis. Center for Hospice Care’s Director of Marketing and Communications Cyndy Searfoss noted the importance of timing in regards to starting care.

“Hospice care is not just for days or even weeks: it’s for months. Many people that have used our services say, ‘I wish I’d known about you sooner. I wish I’d called you sooner,’” Searfoss said. “You don’t know what you don’t know. Getting hospice sooner rather than later helps the family as well as the patient.“

Another potential stressor with hospice care comes from the cost. For those going through something as major as a terminal diagnosis, either for themselves or a loved one, the idea of finances permeates the discussion of next steps.

However, many people already have hospice benefits and might not realize it. Anyone with Medicare coverage who is eligible for hospice care is not required to pay out of pocket for anything directly related to a terminal diagnosis under Medicare Part A. This includes medication, medical devices, or care received from hospice staff.

Searfoss highlighted the importance of taking advantage of Medicare benefits, largely because individuals covered have been paying into the system their whole lives.

“Hospice support or hospice care provides so much for patients and their loved ones, not just physical and medical support, but supports them with spiritual care. It supports them with psychosocial care. It supports them with home health aides that can come in and help with bathing. And for Medicare patients, these services are fully covered,” Searfoss said. 

It is important to note that while care related to the terminal condition that has placed the patient in hospice is covered, Medicare Part A coverage does not extend to additional diagnoses.

Searfoss clarified this detail further.

“Let’s say the patient has stage four cancer, but they are also diabetic. The diabetes is not related to why they’re in hospice,” Searfoss said. “Their insulin, other medications, syringes, their testing equipment — none of these would be covered by the hospice benefit, because these are not related to their stage four cancer diagnosis.”

Outside of Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance offer another way for patients or families to pay for hospice care. Specific groups of people, including veterans, receive hospice benefits as well.

In instances where eligible patients lack insurance and are unable to afford hospice care, Center for Hospice Care offers a sliding scale payment method, allowing people to pay what they are able. The goal is to make sure that individuals always have access to this care, especially in tight financial situations.

“Center for Hospice Care will never turn anybody away if they’re eligible for hospice care, regardless of their ability to pay for those services,” Searfoss said.

To continue upholding this promise, Center for Hospice Care relies on the generosity of the community. Many who donate have been impacted by the organization’s services in some way. Outside of individual donations, Center for Hospice Care hosts events throughout the year, including its Helping Hands Award Dinner, Circle of Caring Award Dinner, as well as third-party events like Lube-a-Thon for Hospice hosted by Tom’s Care Care Center. Each of these events lends a significant amount of financial support to the organization, allowing it to continue impacting the community.

This year, the fourth Circle of Caring Award Dinner falls on Wednesday, October 28. The event will honor Kim and Scott Welch of Welch Packaging. Sponsorships for the event will go towards unreimbursed care. The evening will also feature a paddle-up event, with proceeds from that going towards the organization’s pediatric program.

When coming to terms with a terminal diagnosis, it is easy to feel overwhelmed or caught up in the many different factors that go into next steps. Ultimately, Center for Hospice Care hopes to encourage community members to ask the questions they need to and make informed decisions about what comes next.

“We always encourage people to ask questions and really understand the differences between hospice providers — look at for-profit versus non-profit providers and ask the admissions team any question that comes to mind about the care,” Searfoss said. “‘What does triage look like?’ ‘What does after-hours care look like?’ You’re trusting a hospice organization to provide skilled care at a difficult time and you owe it to yourself and your loved ones to make sure it’s the best fit.”

Through open communication and a better understanding of hospice care, Center for Hospice Care hopes to spread awareness that hospice care is readily available for those that need these services, regardless of the circumstances they find themselves in.

“This is something that’s available to everyone. It’s not limited to those who can say, ‘I’ve got really great insurance, so I can take advantage of this.’ Hospice care is there for everybody in our community, and we want more people to understand that,” Searfoss said. “We want people to benefit from that.”

For more information about Center for Hospice Care and its program, you can visit cfhcare.org.