Hospice:

Hospice Care is considered to be the model for quality compassionate care at the end of life. Hospice provides a team approach to expert medical care, pain management, and emotional and spiritual support expressly tailored to the patient and family's needs and wishes. The focus is on caring, not curing and, in many cases care is provided in the person's home.

The hospice team usually consists of:

The patient
The patient's family/caregiver
The patient's personal physician or hospice physician
Registered Nurses
Home Health Aides
Medical Social Worker
Counselors or Spiritual Caregivers
Trained Volunteers
Other professionals such as, speech, physical, and occupational therapists as needed

Hospice benefits are available to Medicare Part A beneficiaries who:

Are certified by two doctors, typically the personal physician and hospice medical director, as having a life-limiting diagnoses with a life expectancy of six months or less, Sign a statement choosing hospice care using the Medicare Hospice Benefit, rather than curative treatment and standard Medicare covered benefits for their hospice diagnosis and Enroll in a Medicare-certified hospice program.