Hospice Care

Ongoing public education about the roles of hospices helps to increase our awareness. There have been many programs on television, which have increased public attention to the needs of the dying and the bereaved. Numerous books, magazine articles and public lectures have also helped to make people more sensitive to the needs of the fatally ill. For the elderly and terminally ill there are a variety of agencies that work together with the goal of giving humane and expert care, and meeting the patients’ personal needs of comfort and support. These organizations include home care agencies, some health maintenance organizations, insurance companies and hospital divisions-for example, Veteran Affairs Medical Centers that are increasingly offering hospice services to eligible veterans. When hospices first began in the early 1970’s, the services were free of charge. Today, Medicare is often heavily used resource for financing hospice care. The development of hospices, the criteria used to...