Choosing a hospice & understanding your choices

Compare what matters in everyday care

Medicare-certified hospices provide a common set of basic services, but practical arrangements can differ. Ask how care will work at the actual address where the person lives. This is especially useful across a large rural area: an office’s location alone does not tell you who will respond, how equipment is delivered, or which inpatient facilities are available.

• Visits and response: Who will visit, how are visits adjusted, and what happens when we call at night, on weekends, or during a symptom crisis?
• Care arrangements: Where would inpatient symptom care or respite take place? How will the hospice coordinate with our physician or residential facility?
• Family support: What teaching, social-work assistance, spiritual care, caregiver support, and grief services are available? How do we request them?

Use public information alongside a conversation

Medicare’s Care Compare tool provides hospice quality information and family-reported experiences. Use it to help form questions, alongside recommendations and direct conversations. Discuss how the results relate to your family’s needs. Ask the provider to explain unfamiliar findings.

• Compare local providers: Search for hospice providers by location and review the available quality measures and family surveys.Medicare Care Compare

Understand the care and costs before signing

Ask for a plain-language explanation of the hospice election and the proposed care plan. Review medicines, equipment, outside appointments, and any expected personal-care or room-and-board expenses. Get a name to contact with coverage questions. You should be able to explain the plan in your own words and know which services the hospice will arrange before making separate arrangements.

Your wishes belong in the plan

Patients have the right to information they can understand and to participate in decisions about their care. Tell the team about language, cultural, spiritual, accessibility, or communication needs. Hospice enrollment does not itself create a do-not-resuscitate order; discuss CPR preferences and advance directives separately with the clinician so the response plan is clear. Care cannot be conditioned on whether a person has executed an advance directive.

You can change your mind

Under Medicare, you may change hospice providers once in each benefit period. You may also stop hospice, receive other Medicare-covered treatment, and elect hospice again if you remain eligible. Ask the teams to coordinate the paperwork, medications, equipment, and timing before a change so you understand how care will continue.

A good first call can be simple

Explain where the person lives, the illness or recent changes, and what you most need help understanding. Ask what information is needed for an evaluation and how soon to expect follow-up. Whether you speak with our team or another hospice, keep asking until you understand your options and the next step.

• One useful closing question: “If we choose your hospice, what will the first day and the first week look like for our family?” Write down the answer and the contact person so you can return to the conversation later.

Ave Maria’s service area

Ave Maria Hospice is based in Fredericksburg and serves the nine counties below. The communities are examples, not the limits of each county’s coverage. Tell us the address where care would take place so we can discuss the arrangements.

• Bandera County: Bandera · Lakehills · Medina
• Bexar County: San Antonio · Converse · Universal City
• Blanco County: Blanco · Johnson City · Round Mountain
• Gillespie County: Fredericksburg · Harper · Stonewall
• Kendall County: Boerne · Comfort · Kendalia
• Kerr County: Kerrville · Ingram · Hunt
• Kimble County: Junction · London · Roosevelt
• Llano County: Llano · Kingsland · Horseshoe Bay
• Mason County: Mason · Pontotoc