Hospice care in the Greenville area

What is hospice care?

Hospice is comfort-focused care for a person whose physician certifies a life expectancy of six months or less if the illness runs its normal course, delivered by a team of nurse, aide, social worker, chaplain and volunteers wherever the person lives.

DPH's data shows 17 licensed hospice programs with offices in the four counties and 3 inpatient hospice houses: Bon Secours Hospice House by Compassus (Simpsonville, 30 beds), Callie & John Rainey Hospice House (Anderson, 22 beds), VIA Health Partners - Laurens County Hospice House (Clinton, 12 beds). South Carolina licenses hospice programs by the counties they serve.

Can hospice care for someone in assisted living?

Yes. South Carolina's Regulation 60-84 allows a CRCF resident to receive hospice in place when the facility's care combined with hospice meets the resident's needs, so many Upstate residents never move at the end of life.

Hospice can also care for nursing home residents and people at home.

Who pays for hospice?

Medicare's hospice benefit pays for the hospice team, medications and equipment related to the terminal illness, short inpatient stays for symptom control and respite, with little or no cost to the patient; it does not pay room and board.

Medicaid and most private insurance also cover hospice. A patient can leave hospice and return to curative treatment at any time.

How do I choose a hospice in the Greenville area?

Ask how quickly the hospice responds to a call at night, how often nurses and aides visit, who covers weekends, whether it uses its own inpatient unit or a hospice house, and what bereavement support it offers families after a death.

Check the hospice's DPH license and the counties it is licensed to serve on our home health and hospice roster. Medicare's Care Compare publishes hospice family-survey results that describe how families rated communication and responsiveness.

When should a family ask about hospice?

Ask when treatment is no longer working or its burden outweighs its benefit, when hospital stays are becoming frequent, or when a parent says they want to focus on comfort; an informational visit does not commit anyone to enrolling.

Hospice support for patient and caregiver works best over weeks or months rather than days, and many families say afterward that they wish they had called sooner. A physician's referral starts enrollment, but families can call a hospice directly with questions.

Where is hospice licensed across the Greenville area?

Here is how DPH's licensing data distributes hospice across Greenville, Anderson, Pickens and Laurens counties; agencies have no bed count.