For Professionals
Your Partner in Patient Care
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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%
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
Refer a Patient
To refer a patient to our services, please complete the form below. A member of our team will respond to your request to gather additional details and begin the process of coordinating care with the patient and their loved ones.