My 83 year old mother with terminal colon cancer is under Treasure Coast Hospice Care in Port St. Lucie, FL. She wants to come live with me in Greenwood, Arkansas. I have been going back and forth caring for my mother and it would be best for my mother and my husband and I if she were to come live with us. We're in our 60's and, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and had many weeks of radiation therapy. I am getting very tired traveling to Florida, staying for a month at a time caring for my mother. It is my mother's wish she passes on under my care and since I am an only child, it is my responsibility to care for her until her last breath. Please provide me with all necessary information on how to transfer Hospice Care Services for my mother from that of Florida to here near my home. We were also told my mother can only see Hospice physician and not to call 911 or go to the hospital since Medicare will not accept the change. My mother's only income is Social Security for $875.00 per month after Medicare payment is taken out.
Thank you very much for your kind assistance in this urgent matter.
Hospice is palliative or comfort care ONLY. That is what Hospice is all about. Medicare pays for all or almost all Hospice related expenses. But it is for
COMFORT CARE. If you go and do things, like get her into the hospital or other actions that change her from comfort to actively doing things to "cure" then it is not in compliance with hospice regulations and she will be discharged from the Medicare hospice program. She will have to request to be put back into either regular Medicare or into Medicare hospice again. Another bundle of paperwork. Then likely will find yourself or your mom responsible for the hospital charges till all that is sorted out. That is the problem with having her seen by an MD not in the hospice system, non-hospice MD have to do what they can to cure a patient. You almost have to have her DNR around her neck 24/7 to keep this from happening.
If she is in hospice and living in her home this is going to be easier as you don't have both state's Medicaid system to deal with. But if she is under Medicaid to pay for the room & board portion of her care then it will be a bundle of paperwork and she will have to reapply for Arkansas under their rules. You may find you have to private pay the room & board portion for the NH or LTC until she is approved under the new state's rules if you can't find a place that accepts Medicaid pending.
It can be done but it won't be simple. Again, best bet is to find a hospice near Port St Lucie that also is affliated with one by your city and get them to help you do this.
Medicare is pretty much the same rules nationwide as it's federally administered.
Medicaid is tricky when they move from one state to another. Especially if they own a home. The home is exempt as a Medicaid asset if it is their homestead which you have to be a legal resident of the state to have it as a homestead but if they move out of state then it is no longer exempt so you either have to sell or rent it and use that $ to pay for care. Good luck.
Igloo this is wonderfully useful information I am going to keep. Thank you so much.
Thank you again for helping me.
The transfer from one hospice to another should not be very complex or involve a great deal of paperwork for the family. As previously advised contact your local hospice preferably a not for profit. Give them all the patients information and they should contact the distant hospice and between them the arrangements will be made. You should also notify the Florida hospice about the transfer. Your mom will be discharged from the Florida hospice when she leaves and immediately enrolled in the one near your home on her arrival. the new hospice will arrange for any needed equipment to be delivered to your home prior to Moms arrival. Of course something may go wrong but it should be a simple process. Good luck
We took our daughter to OBX for a week will full knowledge that we were waaay outside the care zone and totally on our own for a week. She died 36 hours after our return. You may not be so lucky, and you better have nerves of steel to attempt this.
As Jeannie said no one is going to pay for the transport of a dying patient anywhere. Flying can be difficult and dangerous, a long car ride is totally exhausting when you consider the nursing care needed on the way. One option is to rent a camper which will give you all the facilities you need for care rest and feeding along the way. Many Walmarts allow you to stay overnight free of charge in their parking lot.
Having your loved one die on the journey need not be anymore of a hassle than say having a heart attack and dying on vacation. It will be expensive but other than that you call 911 and the police and ambulace will come and transport the patient to the nearest ER where they will be pronounced dead and any other necessary formalities. A local funeral home of your choice will be called or even the one in your own home town to transport the body to the desired location. Expensive of course and you will be paying for everything. Another option is to have the body cremated at the place of death and the ashes can be sent home or you can collect them. This is probably the cheapest option if cremation was planned anyway. A memoral service can be arranged at a later date. this is not an easy subject to adress but if you plan ahead for any being prepared will make this process less devastating. As jeannie also said in NYS hospices are licensed by medicare to cover a certain geographic are usually one county although some do overlap and try to "Poach" patients in bordering counties. So if you live in county A but have a summer camp in County B you do have to change hospices while you are away from your usual residence. A few days to a week are usually just ignored especially if the patient is relatively healthy at this time. pre planning is the key to all this and your hospice is the place to start. Arranging for the new hospice to be available on arrival will ease things alone especially if you arrange on a weekday.