Clinical oversight and review of this site
Medical director
Every Medicare-certified hospice must have a medical director who is a doctor of medicine or osteopathy. The medical director is responsible for the medical side of the hospice program, takes part in certifying that a person is eligible for hospice, and works with each patient's own doctor. At Beta, the medical director also reviews the clinical pages on this website before they are published.
Reviewed by our medical director, September 24, 2026
On this page (6 sections)
Beta's medical director
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Name | Oscar Chien, MD |
| Credentials | Doctor of Medicine (MD) |
| California physician license | A54999 |
| Short biography | Oscar Chien, MD, serves as medical director of Beta Hospice. |
| Photo | Text-only profile |
Anyone can check a California physician's license status with the Medical Board of California. We will add a direct link once the name is published.
What does a hospice medical director do?
Under the Medicare hospice conditions of participation (42 CFR 418.102), the medical director:
- Has responsibility for the medical component of the hospice's patient care program.
- Reviews the clinical information for each new patient and provides the written certification that life expectancy is six months or less if the illness runs its usual course, together with the person's attending physician if there is one.
- Recertifies eligibility at the start of each later benefit period, based on the person's current condition.
- Serves on the interdisciplinary team, or names another hospice physician to do so, and helps shape each plan of care.
- Advises nurses on pain and symptom control, including after hours.
- Works with, and does not replace, the doctor the patient has chosen as attending physician.
Who decides if someone is eligible for hospice?
Hospice is for people with a serious illness when a doctor certifies that life expectancy is six months or less if the illness runs its usual course. Our medical director and your doctor make that determination. A website cannot.
If you are wondering whether it is time to ask, read is it time for hospice?. Clinicians can find diagnosis-specific guidance under eligibility guidelines.
How the medical director reviews this website
Pages on this site about illness, symptoms, eligibility, levels of care and benefits show a "reviewed by" line. That line means the medical director read the page for clinical accuracy before it was published. Each reviewed page shows the date of the last review, the date the next review is due, and the primary sources it relies on.
Pages that are legal notices are reviewed by compliance instead. Utility pages such as careers are not clinically reviewed. A page that has not yet been reviewed is marked as a draft and is not published.
Pages the medical director reviews
- Hospice care, levels of care and what hospice provides
- Palliative care and hospice vs palliative care
- Is it time for hospice?
- Paying for care
- Conditions pages for families
- Eligibility guidelines for clinicians
- Frequently asked questions
Common questions
Will the medical director replace my own doctor?
No. You can keep the doctor you choose as your attending physician. The hospice medical director works with that doctor on the plan of care.
Will we meet the medical director?
Most day-to-day contact is with the nurse. A hospice physician or nurse practitioner visits when the plan of care calls for it, and a face-to-face visit is required by Medicare before the third benefit period and each one after it.
Can a physician talk with the medical director about a patient?
Yes. Referring physicians can ask for a physician-to-physician conversation. Start on the refer a patient page or see information for physicians.
About this page
- Written by
- Beta Hospice care team
- Clinically reviewed by
- our medical director
- Last reviewed
- September 24, 2026
- Next review
- March 24, 2027
How we write and review this site
Sources
- 42 CFR 418.102: Medical director (opens in a new tab)
- 42 CFR 418.22: Certification of terminal illness (opens in a new tab)
- Medical Board of California: license lookup (opens in a new tab)
These sources support the general information on this page. For one personās care and coverage, talk with the hospice team.
You do not have to decide alone.
Call (909) 347-7000 any time, or leave your number and someone from Beta's hospice team will call you. No decision is needed to call. Most families start with a question.
Only a hospice doctor, together with the personās own doctor, can confirm hospice eligibility. A website cannot.
- A nurse answers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
- You can stop hospice at any time
- You have the right to choose your hospice