HOSPICE CRITERIA

WHAT ARE THE CRITERIA FOR HOSPICE CARE?

The comforting care of Samaritan Healthcare & Hospice is open to people of all age groups, including children, who live within Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, or Mercer counties. People seeking care for themselves or someone they care for should meet the following hospice eligibility criteria:

♦ The patient has a serious and progressive illness of any diagnosis.*

♦ The patient chooses to pursue care focused on comfort rather than treatment focused on cure.

♦ The patient needs help with a minimum of 3 of the so-called Activities of Daily Living (ADLs). ADLs are the 6 basic tasks of everyday life that healthy people can usually do without help. These activities include: eating, bathing, dressing, toileting, walking or transferring from place to place, and continence (control of bladder and bowels). 

♦ The patient’s primary care physician (family doctor or specialist) would be surprised if he/she lived beyond 6 months.

♦ The patient is no longer receiving aggressive medical treatment to cure his/her disease or to postpone death through unnatural means. Some examples of aggressive treatment include chemotherapy, surgery, and dialysis. 

♦ The patient has received a prognosis of six months or less to live. A prognosis is a forecast of the likely outcome of an illness or injury. It is based on a doctor’s best judgment if the disease follows its normal course. Since no doctor can predict what is going to happen with 100% certainty, many hospice patients outlive their doctors’ expectations.