About Hospice

Reference:  NHPCO Facts and Figures:  Hospice Care in America. Alexandria, VA:  National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, October 2009.

In 2008 for the United States:

1. An estimated 1.45 million patients received services from hospice.
2. 38.5% of all deaths in the United States were under the care of a hospice program.
3. The median length of service was 21.3 days.  This means that half of hospice patients received care for less than three weeks and half received care for more than three weeks.
4. The average length of service was 69.5 days.
5. The majority of patient care (68.8%) is provided in the place the patient calls "home".
6. 83.2% of hospice patients were 65 years of age or older--and more than one-third of all hospice patients were 85 years of age or older.  The pediatric and young adult population accounted for less than 1% of hospice admissions.
7. 38.3% of hospice admissions have the primary diagnosis of cancer.
8. The top four non-cancer primary diagnoses for patients admitted to hospice were:  Debility unspecified, heart disease, dementia, and lung disease.
9. Researches at Duke University found that hospice reduced Medicare costs by an average of $2,309 per hospice patient.
10. An estimated 550,000 hospice volunteers provided 25 million hours of service.