Myths

Hospice is a Place
Hospice is a Service. Hospice care takes place in the environment our patients call home. This could be a personal residence, nursing home, assisted living facility, or any other dwelling.


Hospice means that death is near.
Hospice Care is given to people who are nearing the end of their life due to terminal illness. However, when Hospice care is administered early on, patients can take full advantage of the benefits hospice care has to offer, their conditions can be stabilized, and patients can sometimes be released from Hospice care. 


Hospice care is only for old people.
Although the majority of patients are elderly, hospices give care to patients of all ages.


Patients can’t keep their own doctors
At Hospice Services of Alabama we encourage our patients to continue use of their physicians. We do offer specially trained hospice physicians to those patients who cannot continue using or prefer to change physicians.



I can’t afford Hospice
Hospice care is covered by many private insurance agencies including Medicare, Medicaid and many others. A majority of hospice patients are entitled to services under their hospice benefits. Little out-of-pocket expense to the patient or family is incurred because this benefit covers most aspects of hospice care. Our hospice team will assist families in determining what coverage they have.



Hospice is only for patients with cancer
Although many patients do have cancer, hospice care covers patients of all ages with many terminal diseases. Some diseases included are lung, kidney, heart and neurological diseases. Also included is AIDS, Alzheimer’s, and others.