Dear Editor:
As an RN with SSM Hospice (St. Mary's) for close to 10 years, I read with interest your article "Study: Hospice Saves Money." I fully agree that hospice does indeed save money and one of the reasons for this is that the goal is to keep the person who is ill, and in the last phase of their life, at home surrounded by the love of their family.
Patients no longer receive invasive and costly interventions that seek to cure an end-stage disease. Some patients are in nursing homes, which provide quality personal care - but the dying may need that extra service that hospice provides to make sure the patient is in the most comfortable state before passing (physical, emotional, spiritual.)
As mentioned in the article, hospice provides a great support network. You mentioned in your article Medicaid funding, hospice also accepts Medicare and private insurance. Medicare covers the Hospice Benefit 100 percent and most often private insurance does also (as the patient has most likely met their deductible.)