Get VA Hospice Of The Piedmont Guideline Worksheet For Determining Terminal Prognosis 2009-2024

To be eligible for hospice coverage under Medicare or Medicaid, the recipient shall be "terminally ill," defined as having a life expectancy of six months or less, and except for individuals under 21 years of age, elect to receive hospice services rather than active treatment for the illness.

Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) must offer to purchase or provide palliative and hospice care for Veterans determined to need such care. If an enrolled Veteran chooses VA to be the payer, then VA is responsible for purchasing or providing hospice services.

Formally speaking, hospice care is available to people with a life expectancy of six months or less. Hospice care does not focus on treatments to cure the cause of the terminal illness, it seeks to keep the individual comfortable and make their remaining time as meaningful as possible.

What is Hospice Care? Hospice Care is comfort care provided to Veterans and their families if the Veteran has a terminal condition, with less than 6 months to live, and is no longer seeking treatment other than palliative care. Hospice Care can be provided at home, in an outpatient clinic or in an inpatient setting.

Patients are eligible for hospice care when a physician makes a clinical determination that life expectancy is six months or less if the terminal illness runs its normal course.

Anyone with a serious illness who doctors think has a short time to live — generally 6 months or less —usually qualifies for hospice care. For Medicare to pay for hospice care, patients must stop medical treatment intended to cure or control their illness.