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Health & Well-Being » Hospice

Why It's Important

Hospice is a concept of caring derived from medieval times, symbolizing a place where travelers, pilgrims, the sick, wounded or dying could find rest and comfort. The contemporary hospice offers a comprehensive program of care to patients and families facing a life threatening illness. Hospice is primarily a concept of care, not a specific place of care. Hospice emphasizes palliative rather than curative treatment; quality rather than quantity of life. The dying are comforted.

See Data By: Richmond MSA | Virginia | National

How Richmond is Doing

Content coming.

How Virginia is Doing

According to Home Care and Hospice in Virginia - Issues and Trends, 2007:

Trends in Hospice

1/3 of all deaths now occur while under hospice care
75.9% of hospice patients die in the place they call home
46% of hospice patients have cancer diagnoses
1 in 5 hospice agencies run an inpatient facility or a residential facility

Hospice Statistics

Licensed Hospice Programs have increased 42.3% since 2002 in Virginia
Medicare Certified Hospice Programs have increased 31.5% since 2002 in Virginia
Terminal illness

Cancer
COPD
Alzheimer's
CHF
Parkinson's

(HOME CARE AND HOSPICE IN VIRGINIA - ISSUES AND TRENDS, 2007)

How the U.S. is Doing

According to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization:

For 2007, National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization estimates that approximately 38.8% of all deaths in the United States were under the care of a hospice program.
An estimated 1.4 million patients received Services from hospice .This estimate includes:

930,000 patients who died under hospice care in 2007;
258,000 who remained on the hospice census at the end of 2007 (known as “carryovers”); and
222,000 patients who were discharged alive in 2007 for reasons including extended prognosis, desire for curative treatment and other reasons (known as “live discharges”).

Four out of five hospice patients are 65 years of age or older — and more than one-third of all hospice patients are 85 years of age or older.
In 2007, the top five chronic illnesses served by hospice included heart disease (11.8% of admissions), debility unspecified (11.2%), dementia (10.1%), and lung disease (7.9%).

(HOSPICE CARE IN AMERICA, 2008)

According to the Hospice Association of America and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization:

There are over 3,000 hospices participating in the Medicare program in the US, with an additional 200 volunteer hospices. From 1984 to 2006, the number of Medicare participating hospice facilities increased one hundred fold.
Reports show that more than 893,856 patients received hospice care through Medicare in 2005.
Medicare certifies more than 90 percent of hospices in the United States. Eighty percent of hospice patients are age 65 or older. There has also been an increase in patients age 75 and older receiving hospice care.
Less than one-half of hospice recipients are now cancer patients. The five leading non-cancer conditions of persons who are admitted to hospice are end-stage heart disease, dementia, debility, lung disease, and end-stage renal disease.

(HOME HEALTH, HOSPICE, AND ELDER CARE, 2008)