Guest guest Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 Can anyone tell me something about the " approval " process for getting hospice involved in care? About eight months ago my mother's cardiologist and neurologist referred her to hospice due to uncontrollable swings in blood pressure, and hospice came to evaluate, but felt that she was not within their 12 month life expectancy parameter for inclusion at that time. The process of evaluation was very stressful for all of us, and although I don't think Mom was fully aware of the implications, she doesn't like strangers in her space, asking her questions, asking her to move about, etc. Since that time hospice has been in touch to find out how things are going and they feel that re-evaluation would be appropriate now. However, it was difficult enough to go through the first time that I want to delay until I feel relatively certain that my mother is declining rapidly and irreversibly. She still has very good days where she can walk and talks lucidly interspersed amongst the days that she can't walk at all and only mutters or is uncommunicative. At this point she needs a full time caregiver to help her do everything, so the hospice care would be a big financial help, but when I ask her neurologist about this she punts and says she doesn't know much about the hospice process. I was surprised by some of the questions that hospice asked over the phone to evaluate her condition. Incontinence of the bowel was one (she is occasionally, but not always), weight loss, and the ability to sit unassisted on the side of the bed. This last I found very surprising as we hadn't focused on her falling backwards when left sitting for any length of time. Does anyone know what this is a sign of? The hospice rep also said that given Mom's various diagnoses (Lewy's Bodies, MSA, Parkinson's Plus) that they might find that she is declining more rapidly and thus could be covered earlier than another patient showing similar symptoms that has only been diagnosed with Alzheimers, for instance. Can anyone give me any feedback on all of this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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