Daytona Beach Senior AdvisorSee Medicare's record for each agency: Medicare quality scores for all 2 hospices in Daytona Beach.
What is hospice care?
Hospice is a team approach (physician, nurse, aide, social worker, chaplain and volunteers) focused on comfort rather than cure for someone with a terminal illness and a life expectancy of six months or less if the illness runs its normal course.
AHCA's locator shows 2 licensed hospices with an office address in the two counties: Adventhealth Hospice (Ormond Beach), Halifax Health Hospice (Port Orange). Hospice licenses cover service areas, so programs based elsewhere also serve Volusia and Flagler homes.
Where can hospice be provided?
At home, in an assisted living facility, in a nursing home or in a hospice inpatient unit; Florida law lets an ALF keep a resident on hospice, even a bedridden one, when the facility, resident and physician agree.
That rule lets many families avoid a final move from an ALF to a nursing home. Nursing home residents can also elect hospice, with the hospice team visiting alongside the home's own staff.
How is hospice paid for?
Medicare's hospice benefit covers the hospice team, medications and equipment related to the terminal illness, and short inpatient and respite stays, but not room and board in a facility; Medicaid and most private insurance also cover hospice.
Choosing hospice does not mean giving up all treatment; care for unrelated conditions continues under regular Medicare.
How do we choose a hospice?
Ask how quickly the hospice responds after hours, how often nurses and aides visit, where inpatient care takes place, what respite it offers family caregivers, and whether it has served the facility where your parent lives.
A patient may change hospices once per benefit period and may leave hospice at any time.
When should hospice be considered?
Earlier than most families think: when treatments are no longer helping, hospital visits are frequent, or the person wants comfort over further aggressive care, a conversation with the doctor about hospice eligibility is worthwhile.
Families often say afterward that they wished they had started sooner, because the support for caregivers, from nurse visits to bereavement help, lasts as long as the patient is enrolled and for months afterward.
Where in Volusia and Flagler is hospice licensed?
AHCA's records put these hospice licenses in the following cities; agencies have no bed count.
| City | County | Licenses | Licensed beds / capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ormond Beach | Volusia | 1 | 8 |
| Port Orange & Ponce Inlet | Volusia | 1 | 58 |
At a glance
| Hospice in Florida is | Hospice in Florida is not | |
|---|---|---|
| Who qualifies | A prognosis of six months or less | Only the last days of life |
| Where | At home, in an ALF or in a nursing home | Only in a hospital |
| Medicare | The team, drugs and equipment for the illness | Room and board |
