At Steward Hospice Care we customize our clinical care and support services to address the unique symptoms, social, and emotional needs of each patient, individually. We recognize that the experience of a patient diagnosed with cancer is very different from that of a patient with a pulmonary condition.

All of us at Steward Hospice Care are particularly committed to providing care to the men and women who served the United States through military service. All too often, veterans do not receive the end of life care befitting of someone who sacrificed so much for his/her country and who suffered from the effects that military service and combat have had on his/her life.

Individuals who are eligible for Steward Hospice Care’s services do not have to be homebound but they may experience some or all of the following:

• Frequent hospitalizations
• Progressive weight loss
• Deteriorating mental abilities
• Recurrent infections

Steward Hospice Care’s clinical staff is qualified and able to assist patients whose diagnosis includes any of the following diseases that, generally, result in hospice care admission:

1. Adult Failure To Thrive (Multi-system Failure)
2. Adult Immune-Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)
3. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease)
4. Cancer (of the Bladder, Breast, Brain, Colon, , Liver, Lung, Lymphoma, Ovarian, Pancreas, Prostrate, Stomach)
5. Cardiac/Heart Disease (Cardiomyopathy, Cerebral Vascular Accident – CVA, CongestiveHeart Failure – CHF or Stroke)
6. Dementia (Alzheimer’s Disease)
7. Parkinson’s Disease
8. Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
9. Liver Disease
10. Death Inducing Trauma such as a Car Accident

COST OF SERVICES:
A patient qualifies for Medicare hospice coverage, and his/her hospice care is paid for by Medicare, IF he/she meets the following conditions:

1. Is eligible for Medicare Part A.
2. Consents to hospice care and agrees to receive “palliative” and NOT “curative” care.
3. Is certified by his/her physician and the hospice medical director as having a medical prognosis that his/her life expectancy is 6 months or less, if the illness runs its normal course.
4. Continues to have a 6 month or less prognosis if his/her illness extends beyond the initial 6 month life expectancy time frame.

Hospices are paid a daily per-diem rate for services provided in one of the following four levels of care:

1. Routine Home Care – Steward can continue palliative care to patients admitted to assisted living facilities and nursing homes, and can initiate care to residents already residing in these facilities.
2. Continuous/Intensive Comfort Care – Steward can provide care in 24 hour shifts in the patients’ home for patients who need acute symptom management.
3. Inpatient Care – Care can be provided in an inpatient setting for short stays for symptom management.
4. Respite Care – Care can be provided in an inpatient setting to provide the family, when needed, a rest period of up to 5 consecutive days.

The hospice – not the patient- is responsible for the costs associated with prescription drugs, over the counter medications, medical equipment and supplies, labs, and other needs related to the patient’s comfort and management of illness. In addition, patients receive regularly scheduled visits from nurses, home health aides, social workers, rehabilitation therapists, spiritual counselors, and physicians as needed. Family members also qualify to receive bereavement services for at least one year after the patient’s death.