Congresswoman Esty Praises Regional Hospice and Home Care’s Selection

(Danbury, Conn.) — Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty held a press conference at Regional Hospice’s Center for Comfort Care and Healing on July 31, 2015. The congresswoman lauded Regional Hospice’s selection as the only Connecticut hospice chosen to participate in the Medicare Care Choices Model beginning January 1, 2016, and the positive impact the model program will have for Regional Hospice patients.

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“I applaud Regional Hospice on its selection as the only hospice in Connecticut to participate in this critical hospice expansion program,” said Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty (CT-5). “This initiative is a recognition and acceptance that it is psychologically very important for some families to continue to pursue treatment even in the face of extremely unlikely odds. This is also an opportunity for us to gain more information to make wise decisions with taxpayer dollars to help Americans live long, healthy, respectful lives.”

Regional Hospice and Home Care is one of only 140 hospices selected nationwide to participate in the Medicare Care Choices Model which aims to increase choice and quality by enabling individuals to receive curative care and hospice care concurrently.

All 5,000 eligible hospices across the country were invited to apply to participate in the model. As the only hospice chosen to participate in the state, Regional Hospice is also one of only 70 nationally that has been invited to participate for the full five years of the study.

Congresswoman Esty stated that Regional Hospice’s announcement coincides with the 50th anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid and is not just for senior citizens. Younger people eligible for these national programs who are disabled by life-limiting illnesses will also be able to participate in the Medicare Care Choices Model.  The program will enable as many as 150,000 eligible Medicare beneficiaries nationally with advanced cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, human immunodeficiency virus/ acquired immunodeficiency syndrome who receive services from participating hospices to experience this new option and flexibility.

“Choosing to end treatment is often a painful choice for patients and families,” said Regional Hospice’s Medical Director Doctor Robert Kloss. Dr. Kloss told stories about patients who would have significantly benefitted from the support and improved quality of life that simultaneous palliative and hospice care would have provided them.

Among the guests at the press conference were State Representatives Robert Godfrey and David Arconti and former state representative, Commissioner David Scribner.

Regional Hospice and Home Care’s team of experienced clinicians have been providing physical, emotional, spiritual and bereavement support to children, adults and their families through our palliative and hospice care program for the past 30 years. Regional Hospice and Home Care is a nonprofit, state-licensed and Medicare-certified home health care and hospice agency. Now, with the opening of our new private-room, specialty hospital for palliative and end-of-life care — the Center for Comfort Care & Healing — Regional Hospice and Home Care can bring that same hope and compassionate care close to home and under one roof. For more information, visit www.RegionalHospiceCT.org. Follow us on twitter: @RegionalHospice. Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/RegionalHospiceandHomeCare.

 

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