Expert hospice nurses, comfort medications and medical equipment brought to your home, so your loved one can spend the time that matters most where they feel safest, surrounded by family.
In-home hospice care is comfort-focused medical care for a person with a terminal illness, delivered wherever they live. Instead of trips to the hospital, a hospice team comes to you. They manage pain and symptoms, supply medications and equipment, support the family caregiver, and are reachable 24 hours a day.
"Home" means wherever your loved one lives: a house or apartment in Houston, a relative's home, an assisted living community or a nursing facility. Hospice doesn't mean giving up. It means shifting the goal from fighting the disease to making every day as comfortable and meaningful as possible.
Prime Choice Hospice & Palliative Care is a Houston-based hospice, with our office at 3300 S Gessner Rd., serving families across Houston and throughout Texas.
Everything below is part of the Medicare hospice benefit for the terminal illness.
An RN case manager visits regularly to assess symptoms, adjust medications and teach family caregivers.
Call any time, day or night. A hospice nurse answers, guides you, and comes to the home when needed.
Physician-directed treatment of pain, shortness of breath, nausea, anxiety and restlessness. About pain management
Comfort medications for the terminal illness are delivered to your door, including an emergency comfort kit.
Hospital bed, oxygen, wheelchair, bedside commode and supplies, delivered and set up at home.
Help with bathing, grooming, skin care and repositioning, with dignity and gentleness.
Advance directives, family meetings, resources, and spiritual care for every faith. About spiritual support
Short respite stays for caregivers and bereavement support for up to a year. About family support
Medicare requires every hospice to provide four levels of care. Most patients receive routine home care, and the level changes as needs change.
Scheduled visits from the team at home, with the 24/7 on-call nurse in between. This is the most common level.
During a symptom crisis, nursing care in the home for extended hours, up to 24 hours a day, so your loved one can stay home.
A short stay in an inpatient setting when pain or symptoms can't be controlled at home.
Up to five days at a time in a facility so family caregivers can rest.
Signs it may be time: frequent ER visits or hospital stays, weight loss, sleeping most of the day, needing help with daily activities, or treatment that causes more burden than benefit.
Still on treatment? Compare hospice vs palliative care.
Medicare: The Medicare Part A hospice benefit covers the team, medications for the terminal illness, equipment and supplies. The only possible costs are up to $5 per prescription and 5% of the cost of inpatient respite care. Original Medicare pays for hospice even if you have a Medicare Advantage plan.
Texas Medicaid: Covered through the HHSC Medicaid Hospice Program.
Private insurance & VA: Most plans include a hospice benefit. We verify your coverage for free before care begins.
Every Medicare-certified hospice must offer the same benefit, but responsiveness varies. Ask any agency you're considering:
Prime Choice provides in-home hospice care throughout Houston, Harris County and the greater Houston area, and to families across Texas. Our hospice nurses travel to patients statewide, and live-in carers can stay in the home. See the Texas communities we serve.
Call us any time. A nurse will answer your questions, contact your doctor, and arrange a free evaluation at home or in the hospital.
Family guide: End of life care at home
In-home hospice care is comfort-focused medical care for a person with a terminal illness, delivered wherever they live: a private home, a relative's home, an assisted living community or a nursing home. A hospice team of nurses, aides, a social worker and a chaplain visits on a schedule, a nurse is on call 24/7, and medications, equipment and supplies are delivered to the home.
A person qualifies when their doctor and the hospice physician certify a life expectancy of six months or less if the illness follows its usual course, and the person chooses comfort care instead of curative treatment for that illness. Common diagnoses include cancer, heart failure, COPD, dementia, kidney disease, liver disease, stroke and ALS.
For patients on Medicare, the hospice benefit covers the care team, medications for the terminal illness, equipment and supplies. The only possible costs are up to $5 per prescription and 5% of the cost of inpatient respite care. Texas Medicaid, VA benefits and most private insurance provide similar coverage, and we verify your benefits before care starts.
Not during routine care. Nurses and aides visit on a schedule, and a nurse is on call 24/7 by phone and will come to the home when needed. If symptoms become a crisis, hospice can provide continuous home care, with nursing in the home for extended hours until the crisis is under control.
Often within 24 hours of your call. A nurse can evaluate your loved one at home or in the hospital the same day or the next, and equipment and medications are delivered as soon as care begins.
Yes. Your loved one can keep their primary doctor as the attending physician, working with our hospice medical director.
Yes. A patient can revoke hospice at any time, for any reason, and return to regular Medicare coverage, then choose hospice again later if they still qualify.
