Yes. Hospice enrollment is voluntary and revocable. If a person on hospice decides to pursue curative treatment again, they can disenroll from hospice and resume standard Medicare coverage. If they later meet hospice criteria again, they can re-enroll. Hospice disenrollment is not penalized or limited.

Research consistently shows that hospice does not hasten death — and in some conditions (particularly cancer, congestive heart failure, and dementia), hospice patients live as long as or longer than comparable patients who do not enroll. The quality of life is meaningfully better, and the experience of the dying process is typically more consistent with the person’s wishes.

Yes. In Texas, hospice can be provided wherever the patient lives — home, assisted living, memory care, or skilled nursing facility. The hospice team visits the facility to provide nursing care, aide services, social work, and chaplaincy. The facility provides room and board; the hospice covers the medical and comfort care component. Medicare covers the hospice benefit regardless of the care setting.

Hospice eligibility requires a physician certification that the terminal illness, if it follows its natural course, is likely to result in death within six months. Qualifying conditions in Texas include advanced cancer, end-stage heart failure, advanced COPD, end-stage dementia (FAST Stage 7C), end-stage renal disease, and others. A hospice organization can conduct a complimentary eligibility evaluation without obligation.