Hospice Education Center

No. Hospice is not a place; it is a team that comes to your loved one. Sapphire provides the same care in a private home, your home, an assisted living community, a group home, or a skilled nursing facility anywhere in Maricopa County. We will never ask a family to relocate a loved one to receive our care. If your family ever chooses a move to a care community, our social workers help you find the right place and handle the process, and the care plan moves with your loved one.

Not at all. Hospice means shifting the focus from curing a disease to maximizing comfort, dignity, and quality of life. Many families find that choosing hospice allows their loved one to be more present, more comfortable, and more themselves. It is a choice about how to live.

Hospice is generally appropriate when a physician determines a patient's life expectancy is six months or less if the illness follows its expected course. Many families benefit from calling earlier, even just to understand options before a crisis arrives.

Yes. Sapphire Hospice is Medicare-certified. The Medicare Hospice Benefit covers hospice care for eligible beneficiaries, typically with no out-of-pocket cost for hospice services. Most Medicaid (AHCCCS) and private insurance plans also include hospice coverage. Call us to discuss your specific situation.

Absolutely. Hospice is not a one-way door. If a patient's condition improves or stabilizes, they can leave hospice and resume other care, and re-enroll later if needed. The choice always belongs to the patient and family.

No. Research consistently shows that patients who choose hospice often live as long as, and sometimes longer than, those who continue aggressive treatment, and they experience less pain and distress. Hospice does not speed up death. It focuses on how the remaining time is lived.

Many diagnoses qualify, including cancer, congestive heart failure, COPD, dementia and Alzheimer's disease, ALS, kidney disease, liver disease, stroke, and others. The key requirement is that a physician certifies the patient's life expectancy is six months or less if the illness follows its expected course.

Hospice is appropriate when a physician determines that a patient's life expectancy is six months or less if the illness follows its expected course. But you do not need to wait for a crisis. Families who call sooner tell us later that early conversations made everything less frightening when decisions needed to be made quickly.

That is okay. You do not have to be ready. A conversation with our team does not obligate you to anything. Many families call us months before they feel ready, and they tell us later that those early conversations made everything far less frightening.