People may be short-changed on end of life care

WHAD-Delafield/Milwaukee
As reported by Shamane Mills, WHA/WERN-Madison

A report shows the time patients spend in hospice care is far less than Medicare will pay for. Some say it's so short that patients don't get the full benefits from this end-of-life care.

Hospice care is designed to ease pain and provide emotional support for those who are dying. The average stay nationally is less than 30 days and a report by the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization indicates more than a third of patients die or are discharged in less than a week.

The director of Access for HospiceCare in Madison, Lisa Sherven, says that's not enough time to adequately support and prepare the dying patient and their family. She says less than a week to provide hospice care is really crisis management.

One factor cited by physicians, for short hospice stays, is a family's desire to keep a dying relative alive because they don't know the patient's wishes.

Advance directives are a way to do that and the House health reform bill would reimburse doctors who discuss what kind of end of life care patients want.

Sherven says they've reached out to doctors and the public about the need to plan ahead. And in the last three years, the agency has seen improvement. More hospice patients are alive longer.

She says the average length of stay for hospice patients in Dane and Rock Counties is about 70 days, compared to the national average of 30 days.

Medicare pays for up to six months of hospice care.