Patients who are enrolled in hospice care through Medicare are often felt to suffer unnecessarily because they do not receive adequate attention for their symptoms of the underlying illness. Why is this?

Question

A) Unwillingness to overmedicate the dying patient
B) Medicare rules concerning completion of all cure-focused medical treatment
C) Unwillingness of patients and families to acknowledge the patient is terminal
D) Lack of knowledge of patients and families regarding availability of care

Answer 1

Ans: B
Feedback: Because of additional Medicare rules concerning completion of all cure-focused medical treatment before the Medicare hospice benefit may be accessed, many patients delay enrollment in hospice programs until very close to the end of life. Options A and C are incorrect; hospice does not have an unwillingness to medicate the patient to keep him or her from suffering. Patients must accept that they are terminal before being admitted to hospice care. Option D is at least partially accurate; however, this is not why some Medicare patients do not receive adequate attention for the symptoms of their underlying illness.