Hospice patients may require differing intensities of care. These levels include: Routine care Respite care Crisis care General inpatient care Routine Care - Includes nursing, social workers, counseling services (spiritual, dietary and bereavement), volunteers, therapies, medical supplies, medications and durable medical equipment that are related to the primary hospice diagnosis or related diagnoses and identified in the patient’s plan of care. These services are covered under Medicare Part A, Medicaid and many private insurance companies. The hospice interdisciplinary team is available for care needs identified in the patient’s plan of care during working hours and by our on-call staff to support the patient and family. A patient’s physician can choose to remain as the attending physician when the patient is on hospice, or the hospice physician can be elected as attending.  Respite Care - Short-term inpatient care provided to the patient when necessary to relieve the family members or other persons caring for the individual at home. Respite care may only be provided in a Medicare participating hospital or hospice inpatient facility, or a Medicare or Medicaid participating nursing facility. Respite care may be provided on an occasional basis for up to five consecutive days at a time.  Continuous Home Care/Crisis Care - May be provided only during a period of crisis as necessary to maintain the patient at home. The medical guidelines to use this type of care include uncontrolled pain, intractable nausea, emesis or other major gastrointestinal symptoms, respiratory distress, severe decubitus or other skin lesions/wounds, other physical symptoms defined by the interdisciplinary team as unmanageable in an alternative setting requiring frequent medication adjustment, and psychological problems that create significant psychosocial pathology in the patient or family.  General Inpatient Care -Patients with a terminal disease or illness who elect the Medicare hospice benefit can access General Inpatient Care for the management of pain or other symptoms that cannot be managed in the home setting. Inpatient care is provided in hospitals, skilled nursing facilities or free-standing facilities.