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Let鈥檚 start with a question.

How many days is considered 鈥渢he last days of life鈥�? A week? A month? According to Medicare, it鈥檚 actually 180 days.

Does that surprise you? The hospice benefit covers the last 180 days of life. That鈥檚 6 months of care, PLUS unlimited additional authorizations as long as eligibility requirements continue to be met. The unfortunate reality is that more than half of patients only receive 18 days of hospice care, even though they were entitled to 6 months of added support.

Choosing hospice sooner is the opposite of giving up because it provides MORE care and MORE time to fully utilize the benefits your patient is entitled to receive. If you were giving up on your patient, you would be reducing or subtracting care, but hospice offers MORE.聽Choosing hospice is a shift in the goals of care toward quality of life and added support.

• MORE care centered around personal goals
• MORE focus on minimizing disruption to normal daily activities
• MORE time to focus on the people & things that matter most
• MORE resources to ease the load for your patient鈥檚 loved ones

Many specialists assume the PCP or hospital will make the referral, so they don’t.聽So what happens to the patient? You guessed it. They fall between the cracks and don鈥檛 receive the care they need.

Most specialists don鈥檛 refer their patients to hospice because they assume they will have to follow the patient.聽Typically, the PCP or General Practice physician is willing to follow patients even if the specialist made the referral.