Perhaps you’ve heard of hospice care at home, but you aren’t quite sure what this resource provides. The answer is straightforward: Hospice care at home offers a wide range of services for individuals experiencing a life-limiting condition and their loved ones, providing comfort, convenience, and compassion in life’s final chapter.
What Is Hospice Care at Home?
Hospice care includes a variety of services that share the common goal of enhancing a person’s quality of life when they are diagnosed with a life-limiting illness. Hospice care is not curative and instead focuses on providing comfort and enrichment.
Hospice care can take place in a variety of settings, including:
- Long-term care communities
- Hospice residential campuses
- A caregiver’s home
- A patient’s home
In most cases, hospice care takes place wherever the patient calls home. It may be referred to as “in-home hospice care” or “hospice care at home.” Hospice team members will make regular visits to a patient’s home to provide assistance while allowing the patient and their family to maintain an appropriate level of privacy and independence.
What Are the Benefits of Hospice Care at Home?
As with hospice care delivered in other settings, hospice care at home includes a wide range of valuable services, including (but not limited to):
- Symptom management
- Nursing care
- Physical and occupational therapy
- Personal care assistance
- Emotional and spiritual support
- Bereavement support for family
Why do people choose to receive hospice care at home as opposed to another location? For most people diagnosed with a life-limiting illness, one reason stands out: There’s no place like home. The familiarity and comfort of home can be especially meaningful during a challenging time of transition.
People sometimes choose to discontinue curative care because they desire relief from the mentally and physically taxing nature of ongoing medical tests, procedures, and treatments. Resting and enjoying time with loved ones in the place where they feel most comfortable can be a much more pleasant way for them to spend their remaining time.
In some cases, people with a life-limiting illness may prefer to stay in a clinical setting. This preference is more common among people with chronic diseases who would benefit from around-the-clock clinical care to remain comfortable. However, for most, hospice care at home provides the ideal balance of clinical support in a more pleasant and familiar setting.
What Is the Difference Between Home Health and Hospice?
Hospice isn’t the only way to receive care at home. Whatever a person’s health status, they can sign up for at-home services and benefit from ongoing care and support.
This can include both clinical care and assistance with routine tasks such as meal preparation and laundry. Home health services can support a person’s well-being through:
- Chronic condition management
- Physical, occupational, and speech therapy
- Injection administration and blood draws
- Medication management and assistance
- Wound care
These same services may be provided in hospice care, but they will be delivered by a hospice care team and focus on optimizing welfare throughout the duration of a life-limiting condition.
Another difference between home health and hospice care is cost. Typically, the cost of hospice care is covered by insurance, but at-home health care may or may not be covered, depending on whether it’s considered a necessity by insurance providers and medical teams. (Non-medical at-home services are not covered by insurance.)
The Importance of Home
Anyone diagnosed with a life-limiting condition naturally wants to receive the best care in the location they prefer. Consider these words from a family member of a WesleyLife client:
“My mama was blessed to have WesleyLife Hospice take care of her in her final days. They made it possible for her to pass in her own home. The compassion and care was outstanding. From the bottom of my heart, I will always be thankful they were a part of our lives. I would highly recommend this wonderful organization to family and friends.”
Take a moment to learn more about Hospice care at home from WesleyLife.
