Anesthesiology | Hospice and Palliative Medicine Questions Hospice Care

How long does someone typically live in hospice?

My mom's great aunt was put into hospice care last week. I know that hospice is considered "end of life", but how long do people typically live after being put in hospice?

1 Answer

Per CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)
"An individual is considered to be terminally ill if the medical prognosis is that the individual’s life expectancy is 6 months or less if the illness
runs its normal course."
"Predicting of life expectancy is not always exact. The fact that a beneficiary lives longer than expected in itself is not cause to terminate benefits."

Other insurances usually follow CMS guidelines for determining eligibility for hospice.

There is no finite limitation to duration of hospice services. In the beginning 2 physicians and after enrolling to hospice 1 physician needs to certify for the eligibility of hospice services on regular bases. There are guidelines and clinical criteria to determine eligibility. They are reviewed in relation to patients health condition/decline with help of interdisciplinary team. If patient continues to meet the criteria they would continue to receive hospice services. If patient's health does better than originally anticipated they are discharged (or graduated) out of hospice.

hope this is helpful. in case of further questions please feel free to ask.