Little Rock Senior AdvisorSee Medicare's record for each agency: Medicare quality scores for all 5 hospices in Little Rock.
What is hospice care?
Hospice is comfort-focused care for a person whose doctor certifies a life expectancy of six months or less if the illness runs its usual course, provided by a team of nurses, aides, social workers and chaplains.
The Medicare hospice benefit covers the team, medications and equipment related to the terminal illness.
Can hospice come to assisted living in Arkansas?
Yes, hospice can serve residents of assisted living and nursing homes as well as people at home; Arkansas Level II rules allow terminally ill residents to stay when a physician or advanced practice nurse certifies a safe service agreement.
Ask the building how often it works with hospice and which agencies it knows.
How do we choose a hospice around Little Rock?
Ask how fast a nurse responds after hours, how often aides visit, whether the hospice offers short inpatient or respite stays, and what bereavement support follows.
You can change hospice providers if the first one is not working.
When should we ask about hospice?
Earlier than most families do: when treatments stop helping, hospital visits increase, or a doctor says the illness is advanced.
Choosing hospice is not giving up; patients can leave hospice if their condition improves.
Does Medicare pay for hospice in a nursing home or assisted living?
Medicare pays for the hospice team, medications and equipment related to the terminal illness wherever the patient lives, but not for room and board in a nursing home or assisted living.
Arkansas Medicaid may help with nursing home room and board for residents who qualify.
What is the difference between hospice and palliative care?
Palliative care relieves symptoms at any stage of a serious illness, alongside treatment; hospice is comfort care when curative treatment has stopped and life expectancy is six months or less.
Ask your parent's doctor whether a palliative care consult makes sense now.
Where can families get hospice information around Little Rock?
From a parent's doctor, the hospital's case managers, and CMS's Care Compare, which lists Medicare-certified hospices with family survey results.
Ask each hospice how quickly it can admit, often within a day or two of a referral.
Can a hospice patient stay in Arkansas assisted living?
Often yes: Level II rules let a resident with a terminal condition stay when a physician or advanced practice nurse certifies a safe service agreement, with hospice providing the end-of-life care.
Ask the building how many hospice residents it has supported in the past year.
Side by side
| Hospice is | Hospice is not | |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Comfort and quality of life | Curative treatment |
| Place | Home, assisted living or nursing home | Only a hospital |
Sources: Arkansas Office of Long Term Care assisted living rules, the Health Services Permit Agency's Bed Need Book, Arkansas DHS waiver and PACE fact sheets, CMS, CareScout and VA rate tables, each cited in the text. Our editorial standards explain how we check them.
