Guide
Hospice care at home
For many families, “hospice” does not mean a building. It means a team that comes to the house, an apartment, or a nursing or assisted living community — the place the person already calls home.
In-home hospice, or hospice care at home, is usually the routine form of hospice. Nurses, aides, social workers, and others visit on a schedule, and someone should be reachable when symptoms change. The Medicare hospice benefit is built around this idea: comfort and support where the person lives, rather than a long hospital stay.
A smaller number of agencies also list an inpatient unit on the Texas license roster. Inpatient days are typically for short periods, when symptoms are hard to manage at home or a caregiver needs a brief rest (respite). An inpatient unit on a license is a fact about that agency; it is not a rating, and the roster does not say how often the unit is used.
If you are comparing agencies, it may help to ask how often a nurse visits, who comes at night or on a weekend, and what happens if the person lives in a facility rather than a private house. Our questions to ask are written for that conversation.
You can look up licensed hospice agencies below, or read a short guide to how hospice works.