Hospice begins when comfort, not cure, is the main concern.

Our home care team of physicians, nurses, hospice aides, social workers, spiritual counselors and volunteers are dedicated to supporting the physical, emotional and spiritual well being of our patients. We will work with you and your family to make these days as positive, hopeful and full of life as possible. We recognize that all individuals are different and each illness is unique. We encourage you to become involved in planning your care. By working together we hope to make the road less lonely, the days brighter and the burdens lighter.

A team of experienced hospice nurses will be assigned to coordinate your care. The nurse is your best resource on managing your physical symptoms, on pain control, on learning the best ways to care for the patient and in helping you know what to expect as the disease progresses. Your care team is listed on the information sheet in your admission packet. We encourage you to contact us whenever you need us, day or night, seven days a week.

We strive to empower and enable individuals to remain in the familiar surroundings of their own homes for as long as it is possible and appropriate. Death with dignity at home is an important goal of hospice care and we will support you in any way possible to care for your loved one in the familiar surroundings of home.

Continuous care may be provided in the home when a short-term medical crisis develops which the family in conjunction with the hospice team cannot manage with intermittent support alone. Continuous care may be recommended by the interdisciplinary team for short periods of time (generally not to exceed 72 hours depending on the individual circumstances). The hospice will coordinate and manage continuous home care until the situation stabilizes or until alternative arrangements meeting the needs of the patient/family have been made.

The hospice nurse works closely with the patient, the family and the attending physician in coordinating your care. Our nurses are very experienced in caring for the terminally ill. They pay close attention to educating the patient and family members about medications, the probable progression of the terminal illness and in preparing for the inevitable loss of the patient. The nurse is your best resource on managing your physical symptoms, on pain control, on learning the best ways to care for the patient and in helping you to know what to expect as the disease progresses. The hospice nurse generally visits once or twice a week in your home as determined in your plan of care. Please call and let your nurse know if you experience any changes in your condition, if you need to make any changes in your visit schedules or if you need to make any changes in your care. You do not have to wait for a scheduled visit. Our on-call nurse is there to help outside of our normal office hours.

If the severity of the patient’s physical condition prevents appropriate care from being provided in the home, the patient may be moved to an inpatient setting for better monitoring and control of physical symptoms.

General inpatient is a short-term level of care and the patient must require treatment for pain control or acute/chronic symptom management which is related to the terminal illness and which cannot feasibly be provided in the home.

General inpatient care must be provided in a participating hospital or nursing facility and the hospice must have a contract with the facility to provide inpatient care. A list of contracted facilities is included with your admission materials.

The hospice will assume financial responsibility for the inpatient stay only if it occurs in a contractual facility and is ordered by the plan of care. The treatment must be appropriate for palliation of the symptoms of the terminal illness and the patient must be funded by Medicare or Medicaid.

Provision of general inpatient care for privately insured patients will be in accordance with the reimbursement policy of the insurer. For patients with no source of funding, payment may be limited and community resources may be utilized depending on the financial needs of the patient, the availability of community resources and the available resources of the agency.

In the event that the family would benefit from a short respite in caregiving, the patient may be moved to a facility providing such care in accordance with the following:

• Respite care will be provided for a maximum of five days at a time.
• Respite care must be provided in a facility with which we have contracted to provide such care.

The hospice will pay the nursing facility for respite care only for hospice patients covered by Medicare or Medicaid. We will bill Medicare or Medicaid for nursing home care and then reimburse the facility for their services.

Provision of inpatient respite care for privately insured patients will be in accordance with the reimbursement policy of the insurer. For patients with no source of funding, payment may be limited and the community resources may be utilized depending on the financial needs of the patient, the availability of community resources and the available resources of agency.

Hospice care can be contacted 24 hours per day, seven days per week.  Each location is staffed with it’s own on-call nurse;  we are committed to being there for you during a crisis and don’t want you to feel you are alone. Please call if you need help.

The office is open 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Monday through Thursday and 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM on Friday excluding holidays. A nurse is on-call whenever the office is closed. Call the main office number and leave a message with our answering service. Make sure you leave your name, the patient’s name, the phone number you can be reached at and a brief explanation of your question or problem. The nurse will be paged immediately and will call you back as soon as possible. Our goal is to return all calls in less than 15 minutes. Please leave a phone line open so the nurse can reach you. If you ever find that our normal communication system is not working, you may call BB Answering Service at (903) 757-1030.

Phone: (903) 295-1680
Toll Free: (800) 371-1016

• Diagnosed terminal illness with a life expectancy of six months or less
• Attending physician licensed in Texas
• Patient and family must be informed of the terminal prognosis and agree to care that is palliative, not curative
• A primary caregiver, which may be family, friend, hired caregiver or medical facility such as a nursing home must agree to provide care for the patient as necessary
• Patient resides in the Heart’sWay Hospice service area