Discharge and Readmission

• If a patient improves and/or stabilizes sufficiently over time while in hospice such that he/she no longer has a prognosis of six months or less from the most recent recertification evaluation or definitive interim evaluation, that patient should be considered for discharge from hospice.
• Such patients can be re-enrolled for a new benefit period when a decline in their clinical status is such that their life expectancy is again six months or less.
• Patients in the terminal stage of their illness who originally qualify for the hospice benefit but stabilize or improve while receiving hospice care, yet have a reasonable expectation of continued decline for a life expectancy of less than six months, remain eligible for hospice care.