Frequently Asked Questions

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 Hospice is a comprehensive, holistic program of care and support for terminally ill patients and their families. Hospice care changes the focus to comfort care (palliative care) for pain relief and symptom management instead of care to cure the patient’s illness. 

Source: https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Medicare-Fee-for-Service-Payment/Hospice

Abba Hospice, Inc is working with various and numerous local and national insurance providers. Below are the common insurance providers we work with.  Note that if you do not see your insurance provider below still give us a call at (909) 468-2033 as we always work on getting new contracts or authorizations with insurance companies.  

• Medicare
• Medical
• LA Care
• United Healthcare
• Health Net
• Inland Empire Health Plan
• Cal Optima

 Hospice care can provide a range of different services depending on your symptoms and end of life care wishes. These services include, but are not limited to, emotional and spiritual support for the person and their family, relief of symptoms and pain, help with advance care planning, therapy services, and much more. 

Hospice can be provided in many settings — a private home, nursing home, assisted living facility. Many people choose to receive hospice care at home so their friends and family can visit as they wish. Other considerations may include one’s home environment vs. another setting, cost, and stability of the person’s condition. Choosing where to receive hospice care is a personal decision, but it may be helpful to talk with family members, your caregiver, or your doctor about the level of care you need and if it can be provided at home. 

We have contracts to provide hospice care in some Skilled Nursing Facilities. Reach out to us so we can help you with placement should you decide to be in a nursing home.

Advance care planning involves learning about the types of decisions that might need to be made, considering those decisions ahead of time, and then letting others know—both your family and your health care providers—about your preferences. These preferences are often put into an advance directive, a legal document that goes into effect only if you are incapacitated and unable to speak for yourself. This could be the result of disease or severe injury—no matter how old you are. It helps others know what type of medical care you want.

An advance directive also allows you to express your values and desires related to end-of-life care. You might think of it as a living document—one that you can adjust as your situation changes because of new information or a change in your health.

Source: https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/advance-care-planning-advance-directives-health-care

In most cases, you can’t undergo dialysis while in hospice care. This limitation is due to Medicare’s classification of dialysis as a curative treatment for patients with end-stage renal disease as their primary diagnosis.  The only exception to this rule is for patients with end-stage renal disease paired with another terminal diagnosis, such as cancer. In this case, the patient could theoretically continue to receive dialysis while in hospice care.  

Dialysis has never cured end-stage renal disease. Dialysis is no more a cure for ESRD than insulin is a cure for diabetes or oxygen is a cure for COPD. Medicare does not require patients with COPD to give up supplemental oxygen for hospice. Nor does Medicare require diabetic patients to give up insulin. Only patients with kidney disease are denied hospice this way. 

Source: https://www.cms.gov/medicare/coordination-benefits-recovery/overview/end-stage-renal-disease-esrd