Gentiva Hospice tells advisory committee veterans often enroll late, urges earlier referrals and veteran volunteers

Desiree Yearwood, executive director of Gentiva Hospice, told the El Paso Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee on April 17 that hospice providers often see veterans only hours or days before death and urged earlier referral and outreach to increase use of the full hospice benefit.

Yearwood said hospice provides medical symptom control, pain management, spiritual care, volunteer companionship and bereavement support, and that those services can be covered by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Medicare Part A and Tricare. She said Gentiva follows families for bereavement support up to 13 months after a patient’s death and provides volunteer respite care and short-term contracted respite stays when needed.

Why it matters: Yearwood argued that earlier hospice enrollment allows staff and volunteers to deliver more of the care and nonmedical…