Hospice helps you spend your time living as fully and comfortably as possible.
People often think hospice means someone’s final days or hours of life. So many families agonize that choosing hospice means giving up on their loved one. Hospice is care that helps a person live as comfortably and fully as possible, for however much time they have.
That can be very different from person to person. Some people are with us for a few days or hours, while others may be with us for a year or more.
A person is eligible for hospice when their doctor’s medical prognosis is six months or less to live. For families, it means something much more personal: helping their loved one spend that time as comfortably as possible, with care shaped around what is important to them.
Beginning hospice care means the person qualifies for hospice care and a customized plan is developed with a hospice care team based on their condition, symptoms, needs, and their wishes. The plan is not set in stone and can change and be updated as the person’s needs change.
Source: CMS: Medicare hospice eligibility and benefit periods
We hear from so many family members who think hospice means giving up on their loved one or that they are on the brink of death. After talking to us, they’re relieved to learn that hospice care focuses on comfort, dignity, and quality of life. A person can receive hospice comfort care for months before they reach the final days of life.
One of the most common worries we hear is that starting hospice care means death is just days away.
The term End of life covers the whole stretch of time after a diagnosis becomes terminal. Everyone on hospice is in this stage of life, and for some people it lasts for months.
Just because a person is eligible for hospice doesn’t necessarily mean imminent death is near.
In medical care, terms such as imminent death, impending death or actively dying refer to the final phase of life, when death is expected within days or hours and a person is showing changes associated with the dying process. Even then, no one can say exactly when death will happen.
Some common changes you may notice in the last days of life include:
Source: National Cancer Institute, Last Days of Life
While some people are in hospice for just a few days, some can spend months on hospice comfort care long before the active dying process begins.
Former President Jimmy Carter is a widely known example. He entered home hospice in February 2023 and died in December 2024 at age 100, nearly two years later. His wife, Rosalynn Carter, received hospice care for only a few days before her death in November 2023. Jimny and Rosalynn Carter shows how widely time in hospice can vary.
Source: The New York Times, Jimmy Carter’s Long Goodbye
If you have Medicare, hospice care can continue beyond six months as long as the person remains eligible. A hospice physician reviews eligibility after the first 90 days, after the next 90 days, and every 60 days after that.
Sometimes a person’s condition improves or stabilizes enough that they no longer meet hospice eligibility requirements. In that case, they may be discharged from hospice. (We like to call this graduating from hospice!) If their health declines later and they qualify again, they can return to hospice care.
For more information about Medicare coverage, see Hospice Care Through Your Medicare Benefit.
Nationally, the numbers show just how different hospice stays can be.
In 2024, Medicare beneficiaries who died after using hospice had an average lifetime hospice stay of 99.6 days. However, the median was 19 days, meaning half of patients had less than three weeks of care. A smaller group received care for many months, which raises the average.
Source: MedPAC, Hospice Services: Assessing Payment Adequacy and Updating Payments
A Minnesota study found a similar pattern. Researchers at Mayo Clinic looked at people referred to two hospices and found that nearly one-third received hospice care for a week or less. People referred from the hospital had a median stay of just 9 days, compared with 28 days for those referred from a clinic. The researchers also noted that very short hospice stays have been linked with lower satisfaction for family caregivers and a greater chance of dying in the hospital rather than at home.
You may have heard the statistic that hospice patients lived an average of 29 days longer than similar patients who did not receive hospice care. That finding comes from a 2007 study of Medicare patients with congestive heart failure or one of five cancers. The study found that hospice patients lived as long as, or longer than, patients who did not use hospice.
We hear the same words from families again and again:
“I wish we had called sooner.”
There is no single “right” amount of time to receive hospice care. What these numbers above show is that many people reach hospice very near the end of life, leaving less time for the care, comfort and support that hospice can provide.
Reaching out to us earlier gives families time to understand their options, get symptoms under better control, and know who to call when something changes. Families also get to know the people who will be caring for someone they love. Our team members live in the communities we serve, so they’re close by, and families see familiar faces throughout their care.
It’s OK to talk to us before you face a crisis such as frequent middle-of-the-night trips to the ER, a sudden change in pain, breathing or other symptoms that becomes hard to manage at home. Just because you ask us questions does not commit you to enrolling or mean that you are giving up on your loved one.
The heart of hospice care is comfort and quality of life. Care shifts away from trying to cure the terminal illness and toward managing symptoms, easing discomfort and helping the person spend their time in the way that is important to them.
“There's a lot of people out there that still think hospice is a death certificate. But it's not like that.” Kelly describes a patient who had not been feeling well until the Minnesota Hospice team began caring for them. Their nurse adjusted medications, removed unnecessary ones, and they felt significantly better than they had in years.”Kelly, Minnesota Hospice CNA
✅ Pain and symptom management to ensure comfort
✅ Emotional support for people and their families
✅ Spiritual and cultural care, whatever that means to you
✅ Help with bathing, dressing and daily living care from hospice aides (typically 1-2 visits per week, possibly more as needs change)
✅ Guidance for families who are overwhelmed, don’t know what to do next and are navigating difficult care decisions
✅ Bereavement support for families after your loved one passes away
Hospice care can happen wherever the person calls home, whether that is their own home, a family member’s home, assisted living, memory care, in the hospital, or a skilled nursing facility.
It is important to note that routine hospice care does not mean a staff member remains at the bedside around the clock. Continuous care is a separate level of hospice used during periods of crisis when a person needs more intensive nursing care to manage symptoms.
Our levels of hospice care page explains each one.
🌿 Remain at home in a familiar setting instead of going back to the hospital
🌿 Spend quality time with loved ones without the stress of hospital visits
🌿 Receive compassionate care that honors their wishes and values
🌿 Make their own decisions about their care
Families often wait until a health crisis to ask about hospice, but the conversation can start much earlier. Reaching out to us sooner can give you more time to understand your options and get comfort care in place before things become overwhelming.
Learn more about the signs it may be time for hospice care: https://minnesotahospice.com/is-it-time/
✔️ Frequent hospitalizations or ER visits
✔️ Weight loss (10% or more in the past 6 months)
✔️ Increased need for pain management or symptom control
✔️ Difficulty performing daily activities (bathing, dressing, eating)
✔️ Recurrent infections (such as pneumonia, urinary tract and fecal infections)
✔️ Frequent falls
✔️ A decision to stop curative treatments in favor of comfort care
Did you know?
You get to decide the hospice provider you want, even if your doctor recommends a different one. And if you decide another hospice is a better choice for you or your family, you can change providers.
Minnesota’s Hospice Bill of Rights gives patients the right to take part in creating and changing their care plan, know which services and visit frequency are being proposed, refuse services or treatment, and understand any limits on the services a hospice offers.
A person can also stop hospice care at any time, and Minnesota’s Bill of Rights specifically protects that right.
Source: Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, Hospice Bill of Rights
You can call before you know whether hospice is right. Explain to us what’s happening: the person’s condition, what has changed recently, and where they’re living now. We’ll answer your questions and talk through whether hospice may be the right next step. If it is, we’ll walk you through every single step that comes next. If it’s not time yet, you’ll know who to call when it is. ❤️
Anyone can call and ask about hospice. You do not need a doctor’s referral to talk with us, and you do not need a physician diagnosis in hand. We will answer your questions and, when you are ready, work with the person’s physician on the medical certification that Medicare requires.
Your loved one can continue seeing their regular doctor if they choose that person to remain involved in their hospice care. Medications and treatments specific for comfort and symptom relief should also be a part of the hospice plan of care.
It is really important know that Hospice means it is comfort-focused care instead of treatment to cure the terminal illness. But that does not mean every medication or treatment automatically stops. The hospice team will review each one with you based on what it is for, how it helps your loved one and how it fits with their goals of care.
As someone nears the end of life, their body slows down. They sleep more, eat and drink less, and their breathing changes. Our nurses explain what you are seeing as it happens, to help make it is less frightening. They also will talk with you well before that time about what to expect, what to do when something changes, and when it’s ok to call us.
(952) 898-1022