Posted on Friday, December 1, 2017 5:42 PM
The consensus amongst many healthcare professionals is that end-of-life patients are not taking advantage of hospice until the last few weeks of their lives, even though they would benefit from it sooner. This occurs for a variety of reasons. Some people don’t want to give up on curative services and medicine, some see palliative care as a better solution not forcing them to give up so quickly, others believe it is more of an education and communication discussion with the family.
“”Unfortunately, so many patients and their loved ones miss out on the full benefits to which they are entitled,” Michael Mencias, MD, senior hospice medical director at MJHS Health System in New York, told Home Health Care News. “So many people, even some physicians, are surprised that the hospice benefit is free. There are no co-pay and no charges for medicines that are related to terminal illness.””
A reason for the delay in the transition may be the fact that there is no written handbook outlining a timeline.
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