Separate and Equal: Hospice and Home Health Care

Abstract

Changes in funding and how health care is delivered are causing home health care agencies to investigate adding hospice care to the services they offer. Hospice care as a newcomer to the home care industry has found acceptance with patients and their families, physicians, government funding sources, insurance companies, and managed care organizations. Nationally more attention is being paid to end-of-life issues and the cost of care for the dying patient. Advanced directives that focus on the individual's right to choose aggressive cure or aggressive comfort care have caused society to assess how it cares for the terminally ill. This article looks at the past and future of home health care and hospice care in America as it examines the differences in providing patient care and management of hospice and home health care agencies.