Who Pays?
Hospice care is an established part of the health care system. Services are covered by Medicare, most insurance plans, and some AHCCCS plans (the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, which pays for health care for low-income people). Hospice of the Valley, a not-for-profit agency, provides the same high quality of care to everyone regardless of ability to pay.
Most patients are on Medicare. Those who elect to use the Medicare Hospice Benefit for their serious illness choose "the hospice plan of care," which means they are no longer seeking aggressive treatments to cure their illness. The Hospice Medicare Benefit covers all services related to the terminal diagnosis: medical and nursing care, social services and counseling, chaplain services, certified nursing assistants for personal care in the home, medications delivered to the home, medical equipment and supplies, and care in specialized inpatient hospice homes for acute symptom management.
The Hospice Medicare Benefit covers room, board, and all care in a hospice palliative care unit or inpatient hospice home - a short-stay facility staffed by Hospice of the Valley for patients with acute symptoms such as pain, nausea or shortness of breath.
For more information, view the U.S. Government Web site: www.medicare.gov or call the Medicare Customer Representative: 1.800.633.4227.