Physicians, case managers, facilities and health plans

For healthcare professionals

Beta Hospice is a Medicare-certified hospice and palliative care provider based in San Bernardino, serving San Bernardino, Riverside, Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties. This section is for clinicians and care coordinators. It covers how to refer, what we need from you, the Medicare eligibility guidelines by diagnosis, and how we coordinate with physicians, hospitals, nursing facilities and residential care facilities for the elderly (RCFEs). You can call with a question before you have a referral.

Medically reviewed by Oscar Chien, MD, Medical Director, November 4, 2026

On this page (6 sections)

In this section
Three ways to refer
When to call us
What happens after you call
Start here
Verify us

In this section

Physicians

How hospice certification works under 42 CFR 418.22, the attending physician role and billing, the face-to-face rule, and when to call Beta Hospice.

Discharge planners

For hospital and nursing facility case managers: when to refer to hospice, what to send, equipment and medication timing, inpatient versus home hospice.

Assisted living and RCFEs

For RCFE and assisted living operators: the hospice care waiver, the hospice care plan, who does what, medications, bedbound residents and communication.

Skilled nursing facilities

For nursing facility administrators, directors of nursing and social services: the hospice agreement, coordinated plan of care, room and board, and GIP.

Health plans and IPAs

For health plan and medical group case managers: how to reach Beta Hospice, how hospice is paid for plan members, and Medi-Cal SB 1004 palliative care.

Medicare Advantage and hospice

For case managers: a Medicare Advantage member can choose any Medicare-certified hospice. Who pays, what the plan must do, and the rules behind each.

Palliative care referrals

When to refer to community-based palliative care, the Medi-Cal SB 1004 general and disease-specific criteria, and how palliative care differs from hospice.

Eligibility guidelines

How to use the Medicare hospice LCD guidelines: general decline indicators, functional baseline, comorbidities, and documenting patients who do not fit.

Eligibility scales

The four scales hospice certification uses: Palliative Performance Scale 0 to 100, FAST stages 1 to 7f, NYHA classes I to IV and Karnofsky 0 to 100.

Benefit periods and recertification

Enter the election date and get every benefit period boundary, the certification due dates and the face-to-face window for the third period onward.

Discharge and revocation

The three permitted reasons for a hospice discharge and the steps a discharge for cause requires, the discharge order and plan, revocation mechanics.

Election statement and addendum

What the hospice election statement must contain under 42 CFR 418.24, and the addendum every new patient gets from October 1, 2026, with its deadlines.

RCFE hospice care waiver

What the hospice care waiver allows an RCFE to do, what the facility must have in place under Title 22 sections 87632 and 87633.

Levels of care criteria

Medicare criteria and documentation for GIP, continuous home care and respite, what does not qualify, and the FY2027 rates from October 1, 2026.

Hospice rules 2026–2027

The hospice rules that changed in 2026 and 2027, with effective dates and sources: the mandatory addendum, discharge orders, telehealth, rates, moratoria.

Three ways to refer

Call(877) 258-7129

Answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Fax(855) 563-3575

Face sheet, recent notes, medication list and an order to evaluate.

OnlineReferral form

No patient details needed. A nurse calls you back for them.

Our response commitment: A response within two hours, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

When to call us

You do not need a confirmed prognosis or a signed order to call. Common reasons clinicians call:

A patient with advanced illness has had repeated hospitalizations or emergency visits, and goals of care are shifting toward comfort.
Function is declining: more time in bed or chair, new dependence in activities of daily living, weight loss, recurrent infections.
A patient or family has asked about hospice, or has declined further disease-directed treatment.
You would not be surprised if the patient died within the next six to twelve months and want help with symptoms or planning. Palliative care may fit before hospice does.
A hospital or facility discharge is planned and hospice needs to be in place when the patient arrives home.
A resident of an RCFE or nursing facility is declining and the facility needs to know what hospice would involve.

What happens after you call

A hospice nurse or intake coordinator takes the basic information, confirms the patient or representative is open to a conversation, and arranges an informational visit. Only the patient or their legal representative can elect hospice. Our medical director, together with the attending physician if the patient has one, decides whether the patient can be certified as terminally ill. We then report back to you. Response and admission time frames: we respond to referrals within two hours, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and aim for same-day admission once the patient is in the setting where care will be delivered.

Start here

Refer a patient

Three ways to refer, what to send, and what happens next. Use this page for fax and print sheets.

Go to the referral page

Eligibility guidelines by diagnosis

Indicator tables based on the Medicare hospice LCD guidance: dementia, heart disease, pulmonary disease, cancer, renal and liver disease, stroke and coma, ALS.

See eligibility guidelines

Hospice rules 2026–2027

The rule changes referrers need to know, with effective dates and sources: the mandatory addendum, discharge orders, telehealth, rates and moratoria.

See what changed

Patients have the right to choose their hospice provider. Beta Hospice does not offer anything of value in exchange for referrals.

Verify us

Referrers are rightly being told to verify hospices. See our Medicare quality information on Care Compare, and read how to verify a hospice in California. Our license and certification details are on the about page.

About this page

Written by: Beta Hospice care team
Medically reviewed by: Oscar Chien, MD, Medical Director
Last reviewed: November 4, 2026
Next review: March 24, 2027

How we write and review this site

Sources

These sources support the general information on this page. For one person’s care and coverage, talk with the hospice team.

Refer a patient or ask a clinical question

Call any time. A nurse can talk through eligibility, timing and logistics for your patient.

Patients have the right to choose their hospice provider.

Call (877) 258-7129 Refer a patientFax (855) 563-3575