Are You A Medical Professional Considering a Referral?

Hospicare is dedicated to providing the highest quality end-of-life care and support to your patients and their families. Our staff is responsive, reliable, and ready to collaborate with you to whatever degree you desire and coordinate patient care in a way that is consistent with your needs. Hospicare services are available to patients of all ages with any type of end-stage illness, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

In determining prognosis, it should be the physician’s judgment that the patient’s life expectancy is 6 months or less. In practice it can be difficult to accurately predict life expectancy, however, we have some indicators for various diagnoses and conditions which can help guide the physician.

It is probably better to err on the side of early referral.  Hospice staff can be more helpful when they have sufficient time to build a trusting relationship with patients and their caregiver(s) before the situation becomes critical. Hospicare’s 24 hour availability averts unnecessary trips to the emergency room and allays patient and caregiver anxiety and fears.

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or would like our help in assessing appropriateness for hospice services.

Patient Referral

Any one can make a referral to hospice.  To learn more about Hospicare’s services or refer a patient, e-mail us at info@hospicare.org or call 607.272.0212.

Talking to Patients about Death

While professional guidelines call for physicians to begin discussions about death when a patient has a year to live, a new study says that doesn't always happen. This story in the New York Times has a link to the study, which was published in the journal Cancer.

Updates for Physicians

Read the latest Quality of Life Matters newsletter for updates on clinical findings and news relating to end-of-life care. The current issue includes:

• Physicians urged to recognize and support the major role of family caregivers
• Higher tube feeding use in patients with advanced dementia linked to facility characteristics
• National study shows underuse of hospice by minorities extends to heart failure patients
• Looking at how to balance the benefits and burdens of detailed clinical disclosure
• Management of dyspnea in patients with advanced heart or lung disease
• Helping patients determine whether and when hospice fits their needs

The process of dying and death remains highly individualized, making it essential that clinicians both ask questions and listen to their patients to ascertain their priorities."

-Jean S. Kutner, MD, writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association