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Seva Hospice representatives explain hospice, palliative care and advance-care orders
Summary
On the Senior Moments podcast, two Seva Hospice staff described hospice services, what Medicare covers, POLST forms and how families can choose or change hospice providers. They said hospice can provide equipment same day, covers medications tied to the admitting diagnosis and can be started or stopped by patients and families.
Seva Hospice representatives on the Senior Moments podcast outlined how hospice and palliative care work, what Medicare typically covers and options families have for advance-care planning.
On the program, Ryan, a Seva Hospice representative, described hospice as “a benefit that is covered under Medicare” and said the agency’s services include a medical director, nurses, social workers, chaplains, home health aides and volunteers. He said hospice can provide equipment such as hospital beds, oxygen and wheelchairs, and noted “for equipment, it can be same day.”
Why it matters: hospice and palliative care determine who supplies medications, durable medical equipment and skilled visits during serious illness. Knowing what is covered and how to choose a provider affects costs and care plans for people with terminal or advanced illnesses and their families.
The two hospice staff explained differences between palliative care and hospice: palliative care can begin earlier and be delivered alongside curative therapies, while hospice focuses on comfort when curative treatment is no longer the goal. Ryan said Seva partners with a sister company, CareOne Home Health, to provide palliative services and that “when it’s time for hospice, it’s easy to bridge over because we are all sister companies.”
On coverage and medications, Dina, a Seva Hospice representative, said hospice covers medications and supplies related to the patient’s admitting diagnosis and that families should expect little or no out-of-pocket cost for hospice services under Medicare. Dina said, “No. 100% covered,” when asked whether there are co-pays for hospice-covered supplies and equipment, and clarified that Medicare does not pay for curative treatments while a person is on hospice, noting “the only thing that Medicare states that we cannot do under hospice is any life sustaining measures.”
The hosts and hospice staff discussed logistics and patient control. Ryan said families can start and stop hospice: “It is something that you can start and stop at your wish.” If a patient later seeks curative treatment, the hospice benefit can be revoked and reinstated if needed, he added. The hospice team also described how they handle acute events: if a hospice patient is sent to the hospital, Seva will discharge the patient from hospice while hospitalized, but the team may treat some problems at home after assessment to avoid hospitalization.
On advance-care planning, Ryan described the POLST form (Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) as “a physician’s order for life sustaining treatment” intended for emergency responders and contrasted it with an advance health-care directive, which is a legal document naming a decisionmaker and broader wishes. He explained that a signed POLST becomes an actionable physician order (for example, DNR orders) for emergency personnel.
Service area and capacity: the representatives said Seva Hospice operates locally and can provide services wherever a patient “calls home,” including private residences, assisted living, skilled nursing facilities and temporary housing. They described a regional coverage corridor from Elk Grove down past Visalia into Kings County and noted teams serving Tuolumne, Amador and Calaveras counties.
Practical details the staff provided included typical nursing and aide visit frequencies (nursing visits at least twice a week and home health aides two to three times weekly), that hospice can supply incontinence supplies and medications related to the hospice diagnosis, and that some patients may remain on hospice for years if they continue to meet clinical criteria; Ryan said their longest current patient had been on service about three and a half years.
Contact information given on the program: Seva Hospice’s main line at 209-846-9488, the website sevahospice.com and a direct cell number provided by Dina, 209-915-3055.
The conversation was informational and framed as a role play with the host posing as a family member of a hypothetical patient. The representatives emphasized family choice of hospice provider and recommended early conversations with physicians and loved ones about goals of care and completing POLST or advance directive documents.
