Under Medicare Part A, hospice care is designed primarily for beneficiaries who:
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Why C is correct
Medicare Part A hospice coverage is for beneficiaries with a terminal illness who elect palliative, comfort-focused care instead of curative treatment. Hospice includes nursing and physician services, pain and symptom management, medications related to the terminal illness, home health aide services, and bereavement counseling, delivered primarily in the home. Choosing hospice reflects a shift in the goal of care from cure to comfort, which is the defining feature of the hospice benefit. Hospice is an election, not merely a diagnosis: the beneficiary must choose comfort-focused care and forgo curative treatment for the terminal illness. The Part A hospice benefit then covers a coordinated bundle of services including nursing, physician, counseling, medications for symptom control, and respite care for caregivers.
Why the other options are wrong
- D) Custodial care without a terminal illness is not a hospice benefit; Medicare generally does not cover custodial care. Custodial care for an indefinite period without a terminal prognosis is not hospice; hospice requires a terminal illness and the election of palliative care.
- A) Long-term nursing home residence is custodial care, not a Part A hospice benefit. Long-term nursing home residence is custodial care that Medicare generally does not cover, whereas hospice is a distinct, time-limited benefit.
- B) Hospice focuses on comfort; experimental or curative treatments are not hospice-covered services. The hospice benefit emphasizes comfort and symptom management; experimental cancer treatments are not part of the palliative bundle.
Memory hook
Hospice = comfort over cure for the terminally ill, paid by Part A.