Plain answers, reviewed by clinicians
Resources for families
These guides answer the practical questions families ask us most: how to choose a hospice and check it is legitimate, how to change providers, what the first week looks like, how hospice works in assisted living, what Medi-Cal covers, and which California forms put your wishes in writing. Each guide is reviewed by a clinician and lists its sources. Start anywhere.
Reviewed by Jack Demirchyan, Chief Operating Officer, September 24, 2026
On this page (2 sections)
In this section
How to choose a hospice
How to choose a hospice provider in California: 15 questions to ask, a side-by-side worksheet, how to read Care Compare, and the red flags to avoid.
Read moreSwitching hospice providers
Under Medicare rules you can change hospices once per benefit period. How a transfer works, how it differs from revoking, and what happens to equipment.
Read moreCan you leave hospice
Yes, at any time, by signing a revocation statement. Regular Medicare starts again, and you can elect hospice later if you still qualify.
Read moreHospice medications
The medicines hospice uses for pain, breathlessness, anxiety, nausea, secretions, agitation and constipation, and what each one does. Purpose, not doses.
Read moreRespite care
Respite is up to 5 days at a time in a contracted facility so the family caregiver can rest, with a 5% Medicare cost share.
Read moreIHSS and hospice
Yes. In-Home Supportive Services pays a caregiver's hours through the county Medi-Cal program; hospice brings the team. Neither reduces the other.
Read moreThe first week of hospice
What happens in the first week of hospice: the admission visit, what you sign, equipment delivery, comfort medicines, first team visits and night calls.
Read moreHospice in assisted living
Yes, you can receive hospice in a California assisted living or board and care home. How the RCFE hospice waiver works, who pays for what, and what to ask.
Read moreMedi-Cal and hospice
Medi-Cal covers hospice. How it works with Medicare, managed care plans, nursing facility room and board and share of cost, plus Medi-Cal palliative care.
Read moreAdvance directives and POLST
How a California Advance Health Care Directive differs from a POLST form, who needs which, where to get official forms, and how a hospice team uses them.
Read moreThe final days
A calm guide to the changes families see in the last weeks, days and hours of life, what the hospice team does for each one, and when to call the nurse.
Read moreThe comfort kit
What the hospice comfort kit is, which symptoms its medicines treat, the morphine question answered calmly, who to call first, and safe disposal.
Read moreWhen someone dies at home
Step by step: there is no emergency, call the hospice and not 911, what the nurse does, medicines and equipment, the death certificate and grief support.
Read more24-hour care at home
What hospice does and does not provide at every hour: scheduled visits, a nurse by phone at any hour, continuous home care in a crisis, and respite.
Read moreCulturally competent care
What culturally competent care means in hospice and nursing: bedside examples, the CLAS Standards, language rights, interpreters and how to tell the team.
Read moreHospice and the ER
Yes, but call the hospice first. What the nurse does when you call, when 911 is still right, what to do if someone already called and who answers at night.
Read moreDying at home
Can someone die at home? What it takes from the family, what hospice brings, home vs hospital vs facility, and what to do if care at home becomes too much.
Read moreTalking about hospice
How to bring up hospice with a parent, what to say first, questions for the doctor, who decides under California law, and what to do when family disagrees.
Read moreHow to use these guides
If the person is in the hospital now, start with in the hospital now? How to go home on hospice.
The guides are organized by topic, not by date. Each one stands alone, so you can read only what you need today. Several include a list of questions you can print and take to a meeting with any hospice, facility or health plan.
The guides give general information. They are not medical or legal advice, and they cannot tell you whether a person is eligible for hospice. For the basics, start with hospice care, is it time for hospice? and paying for care. For illness-specific guides, see hospice care by condition.
About this page
- Written by
- Beta Hospice care team
- Reviewed by
- Jack Demirchyan, Chief Operating Officer
- Last reviewed
- September 24, 2026
- Next review
- September 24, 2027
You do not have to decide alone.
Call (877) 258-7129 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 person鈥檚 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