Hospice Programs: Our Office’s Experience

Hospice programs exist in pretty much every American community. From their first appearance in this country in the mid-1970s, the movement has grown dramatically. There are two obvious reasons for the growth in hospice programs in the past half-century: The kind of care available, focusing on palliative care, is attractive to many patients at the end of life, and Medicare funding has made hospice available to far more patients. But do patients (and their family members) find the care comforting and helpful? In our experience, the answer is almost always a resounding “yes!” In this podcast episode, we discuss our (local) experiences with hospice programs. The Tucson community has long embraced the hospice movement. In fact, the Hillhaven Corporation opened the first free-standing hospice program in the country here in Tucson, in 1973. While that program eventually failed, there has been a strong hospice presence in the Tucson area for almost fifty years. Fleming & Curti, PLC, began in its first form just three years after that first hospice opening. With that rich background, we have had a lot of opportunities to observe hospice in actual real-world cases. We’ve always been impressed by what we see. As individuals, we’ve also had a number of experiences with various hospice organizations. Join us for our discussion of hospice programs in Tucson, and our real-world experiences.