Hospice care provides compassionate support for individuals with terminal illnesses and their families, focusing on comfort, dignity and quality of life. The four levels of hospice care ensure patients receive appropriate care based on their evolving needs:
Routine Home Care
Routine Home Care takes place in a patient’s home and involves the HIA Hospice team visiting their residence on a routine or planned visit basis.
This level of care is similar to scheduled visits with a primary provider at the clinic, but it is available 24/7 in the person’s own home. This schedule is flexible and changes based on an individual’s needs. An RN schedules a visit at least once per week, or more depending on every person’s unique needs.
Routine Home Care may also include using our dedicated after-hour team for emergent needs, increased symptom management or a crisis.
Continuous Home Care
If symptoms become difficult to manage and the patient requires frequent evaluations and assessments from their nurses or doctor, they have access to Continuous Home Care.
Symptoms that may trigger Continuous Home Care include:
- Sudden deterioration requiring intensive nursing interventions
- Uncontrolled pain, nausea or vomiting requiring concentrated nursing support
- Respiratory distress requiring aggressive assessment and medication management
- Uncontrolled restlessness, agitation or delirium needing continuous skilled nursing assessments
Continuous Home Care is meant for the time frame when symptoms are being actively controlled by onsite hospice staff. This includes frequent assessments by the Hospice nurse, a minimum of every hour, but it can be more often based on the person’s needs and symptoms. A variety of interventions may take place, including consultations with the medical director, medication changes, the use of medical equipment incorporated and more. Continuous Home Care also includes a monitoring period after the interventions take place to make sure the measures were successful in getting the patient comfortable at home. While under this level of care, a dedicated hospice nurse or CNA is present at the bedside in the patient’s home for up to eight hours in a 24-hour period, ensuring symptoms are managed.
The goal of this level of care is to get a patient back to their baseline wellbeing by actively solving emergent issues.
After it is determined that current interventions are successful, the patient returns to Routine Home Care services. If the interventions were not successful in the home a hospital or hospice house admission may be needed.
General In-Patient Care
General Inpatient Care (GIP) is available when symptoms cannot be managed at the patient’s bedside at home. GIP care is offered at contracted sites across our region as well as at HIA Heather’s House. GIP care focuses on aggressive symptom management with the goal to stabilize symptoms and make sure the patient is comfortable before returning home.
At HIA Heather’s House, HIA Hospice staff will provide round-the-clock medical care in a peaceful, home-like environment. If GIP takes place with a hospital, the HIA Hospice staff supports the hospital team by providing active, hands-on care during portions of the hospital stay, but will not remain with the patient 24/7.
Once the patient is comfortable and ready to return home, they will be discharged with a detailed care plan followed by our HIA Hospice team to make sure their symptoms are managed so that they may return to Routine Home Care services.
Respite Care
While the other levels of hospice care are directly for the patients’ benefit, Respite Care is designed for caregivers. Being a caregiver is a labor of love, but it’s also full-time, challenging commitment. Respite allows caregivers to take a break, so they don’t get burned out and can continue to care for the patient through their end-of-life journey. Caregivers can use Respite Care for personal appointments or chores, or traveling, attending family weddings or funerals, or to simply rest and recharge themselves.
During respite, the patient is admitted into a Medicare-certified skilled facility for up to five days. Our own HIA Heather’s House is a tranquil home away from home for respite care. This temporary move allows the patient to continue to receive around-the-clock care and attention from staff, so their full needs are met. The HIA Hospice team helps with the transfer and admission to the facility and continues to provide care and visits to the patient while in the facility.
You can be admitted to hospice at any level of care, depending on what is necessary at that time, and you can transfer between levels of care as the progression of your illness changes. The HIA Hospice team monitors each patient to determine if they require a different level of care. Hospice care is about helping people live comfortably and with a sense of normalcy, at all levels of care, regardless of their illness.
Contact us to learn more or call (800) 237-4629.