For Professionals

Your Partner in Patient Care

  • Hospitals

    Arc Hospice collaborates closely with hospitals and emergency departments to elevate patient outcomes. Our mission is to deliver excellent patient care to assist our hospital partners to decrease re-admissions, avoidable days, mortality rates, and emergency room visits.

  • Assisted Living & Long Term Care

    Our team enhances the care provided by your facility. We excel in symptom and pain management, with on-call services available 24/7 for uncontrolled symptoms and after-hour care, ensuring the highest quality of support for your residents. We collaborate to combine our knowledge and experience with your team’s to create personalized care plans to meet the needs of your residents.

  • Physicians and Clinics

    At Arc Hospice, we partner with physicians to enhance patient care by providing specialized pain and symptom management, along with monitoring and support. Our collaboration increases resources for your practice and patient and family quality of life.

Determining Eligibility

At Arc Hospice, we understand determining the right time to call hospice is challenging. Still, the most common statement we hear from families once their loved one is on our service is they wish they would have called sooner. This list includes a comprehensive list of symptoms to assist you in making this decision. If you notice the presence of at least two of the symptoms in a category, we urge you to contact our team to arrange a no-cost consultation.

  • Persistent symptoms of recurrent heart failure at rest

    Optimally treated with diuretics and vasodilators

    Ejection fraction of 20% or less

    Abnormal heart rhythms resistant to therapy

    Unexplained syncope

    Cardiac arrest or heart attack

    Poorly controlled angina

    Increased fatigue/weakness

    Unintentional weight loss

    Increased oxygen use

  • Receiving supplemental oxygen

    Shortness of breath at rest

    Resting tachycardia > 100 bpm

    Presence of cor pulmonale or right heart failure

    Hypoxemia at rest

    pO2 < to 55 mmHg, PCO2 > or = to 50 mmHg

    Oxygen saturation < or = to 88%

  • Patient is not a candidate for/not electing to pursue further curative treatment

    Patient has a suspicious tumor and is unable to get a definitive diagnosis

    Increasing pain and/or symptoms

    Metastases and/or stage 3 or 4

    Curative treatment is not effective and/or is having a negative impact on patient's quality of life

  • Dialysis burdens outweigh the benefits

    Creatinine clearance, < 10 cc/min (< 15 for diabetes)

    Serum creatinine > 8.0 mg/dl (> 6.0 mg/dl for diabetes)

    Patient is not seeking dialysis or a renal transplant

  • Ability to speak is limited, or speech is nonsensical; ability to speak is limited to six words or less per day

    Unable to bathe without assistance

    Non-ambulatory or ambulatory with significant assistance

    Incontinence

    Dependent in ADLs

    Stage 7 or higher on FAST (see page 14)

    Decrease in cognitive status

    Unintentional progressive weight loss > 10% of body weight during the preceding six months

    Serum albumin < 2.5 mg/dl

  • Prothrombin time prolonged more than five seconds over control or International Normalized Ration > 1.5

    Serum albumin < 2.5 gm/dl

    At least one of the following:

    Ascites, refractory to treatment, or the patient is non-compliant

    History of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis

    Hepatorenal syndrome: elevated creatinine and BUN with oliguria < 400 ml/day and urine sodium concentration < 10 mEq/l

    Hepatic encephalopathy

    History of recurrent variceal bleeding

  • Physician confirmation of non-recovery/diagnosis of CVA

    Persistent vegetative state beyond three days

    Insufficient intake to sustain life with >10% weight loss in 6 months or >7.5% weight loss in 3 months or albumin < 2.5 gm/dl

    History of pulmonary apriation

    No meaningful verbal communication

  • CD4 + count < 25 cells/mcL or persistent viral load > 100,000 copies/ml plus one of the following:

    CNS lymphoma

    Loss of at least 33% body mass

    Cryptosporidium infection

    Systematic lymphoma with advanced HIV disease and partial response to chemotherapy

    Visceral Kaposi's sarcoma

    Renal failure in the absence of dialysis

    Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy

    Toxoplasmosis (unresponsive to therapy)

    Untreated, unresponsive to treatment, or refused treatment for Mycobacterium avium complex

Starting the Discussion

As a provider, we understand hospice can be a sensitive topic to approach. Below are common questions to explore, which can help guide the advanced care planning and hospice discussion.

  • What are your patient’s health goals?

  • Discuss if continued treatment will prolong your patient's life significantly.

  • Does your patient feel like treatment is adding to or taking from their quality of life?

  • Is your patient pursuing treatment for themself or for the sake of their loved ones?

  • What is most important to your patient right now?

Our team is also available to help with these conversations and advanced care planning. Contact our office today to schedule a family meeting with one of our compassionate community representatives.

  • As a manager for home care agency I see different vendors in our client's homes. Arc Hospice definitely stands out. Families are always satisfied with the services. I highly recommend them!

    Irina

  • I have worked professionally with Arc Hospice for several years now. I would highly recommend them to anyone needing care.

    Dawn

  • Arc Hospice has been nothing short of amazing. As the director of a senior living, I am thankful for our partnership. The customer service is excellent, and they're even willing to make weekend visits.

    Ruby

Contact us.

If you are interested in learning more about partnering with Arc Hospice or need to refer a patient, please complete the form below to have a member of our team contact you.