Hospice care at home in Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley

Coachella Valley communities and ZIP codes we serve

The Coachella Valley runs southeast from the San Gorgonio Pass to the Salton Sea. The ZIP codes are the ones the Census Bureau maps to each city, listed from the pass down the valley.

If your neighborhood or country club community in these cities is not named, it is still served.

How far is Palm Springs from our office?

By road, Palm Springs is about 56 miles from our office on North D Street in San Bernardino, and Coachella, at the far end of the valley, about 81. The road runs east on the 10 through the San Gorgonio Pass, past Banning and Cabazon, then into the valley on Highway 111 or the 10. Desert Hot Springs is about 58 miles, Cathedral City 64, Palm Desert 70, and Indio and La Quinta 76.

Without traffic that is roughly 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 35 minutes. Wind in the pass and traffic on the 10 can make it longer.

How to start hospice care in the Coachella Valley

The first call can come from anyone: the person who is ill, a family member who lives elsewhere, or a case manager at Desert Regional, Eisenhower or JFK Memorial. A hospice nurse answers (877) 258-7129 at any hour, sets up an evaluation visit at the home and asks the doctor for the order. Read how to start hospice.

Before admission we go over the plan for your part of the valley. It covers how often the nurse and the hospice aide come, how long a night or weekend visit could take to reach you, and when the hospital bed, oxygen and comfort medicines would arrive. If we cannot cover an address reliably, you will hear it from us before admission.

For a new referral, our standard is a response within two hours, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The plan of care spells out what to do until the nurse arrives: the medicines already in the house, who to call, and when 911 is the right call. Read about the comfort kit.

Older residents in the Coachella Valley

The Coachella Valley has far more older residents than California as a whole. In the Census Bureau's American Community Survey for 2020 to 2024, about 109,000 people across the 14 ZIP codes in the table were 65 or older, 25.8% of residents. The share was 15.4% for Riverside County and 15.7% for California.

More than half of the residents of Indian Wells (56.6%) and Rancho Mirage (52.6%) were 65 or older, and so were 37.7% in Palm Desert, 35.3% in Palm Springs and 31.6% in La Quinta. Indio, Cathedral City and Coachella are younger.

Hospice comes the same way to a house, a condominium, a mobile home, a senior community or a small six-bed board-and-care home. In a country club or a senior community, the choice of hospice still belongs to the person or their representative.

Hospitals and nursing facilities in the valley

The state license file lists these general acute care hospitals in the Coachella Valley: Desert Regional Medical Center on North Indian Canyon Drive in Palm Springs, Eisenhower Medical Center on Bob Hope Drive in Rancho Mirage, and John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital on Monroe Street in Indio.

Rehabilitation Hospital of Southern California, on Ramon Road in Rancho Mirage, holds the same type of license. None of their names or license holders appears on a hospice license in the state file. Beta Hospice is not part of any of them.

If a doctor at Desert Regional, Eisenhower or JFK Memorial brings up hospice, you choose the hospice. We work with the discharge planners so the first nurse visit, the hospital bed and the medicines are ready the day the person goes home. Read in the hospital now.

The state file lists 11 skilled nursing facilities in these ZIP codes: 4 in Palm Springs, 3 in Palm Desert, 2 in Rancho Mirage and 2 in Indio. We care for people there, in RCFEs (residential care facilities for the elderly) and in board-and-care homes, working with the facility staff. Read where care happens.

Crisis care and inpatient stays

Continuous home care is available in all five counties we serve, the Coachella Valley included. When it is medically necessary during a short symptom crisis, nursing care stays in the home for extended hours so the person does not have to leave.

When symptoms cannot be managed at home, general inpatient care takes place in a hospital or skilled nursing facility under contract with Beta Hospice. Beta does not run a hospice house or an inpatient unit of its own. The team confirms a contracted facility with an available bed, tells you where it is and arranges the handoff and transport before any transfer. Read the levels of care.

Medi-Cal plans in the Coachella Valley

Most people with Medi-Cal in Riverside County belong to a managed care plan. The county's Medi-Cal plans are Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) and Molina Healthcare, the same two plans as San Bernardino County, plus Kaiser Permanente for people who meet Kaiser's rules for joining. Medi-Cal covers hospice, and when you are in a managed care plan, hospice is arranged through that plan.

These are the county's plans. Listing them here does not mean Beta Hospice has a contract with each one. Whether we are contracted with your plan is checked for each patient. Call us at (877) 258-7129 with your plan card and we will tell you where things stand before care starts.

If you have Medicare, the rules are the same in every city. Medicare covers hospice care related to the terminal illness. Under Medicare, most people pay nothing for hospice care itself.

There can be a copay of up to $5 per prescription for symptom medicines and 5% of the Medicare amount for inpatient respite care. Medicare does not pay room and board where you live. Read paying for care and does Medicare cover hospice.

Community resources in the Coachella Valley

These are public services, not part of Beta Hospice. They can help with needs hospice does not cover.

• 211 Riverside County. Dial 2-1-1 from any phone in the county, or call 1-800-464-1123, for referrals to food, housing, transportation, caregiver and utility help. Open all day, every day.
• Riverside County Office on Aging Senior HelpLink, 1-800-510-2020. The county's Area Agency on Aging. Its information and assistance specialists connect older adults and caregivers with meals, caregiver support and health insurance counseling for Medicare questions.
• In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS). A county-run Medi-Cal program that can pay for a caregiver's hours at home. IHSS is separate from hospice and the two can be used together.
• Grief support. Beta offers grief support to the family for 13 months after a death, by phone, letter, visit and in groups. For community groups, dial 2-1-1 and ask what meets in the Coachella Valley, including groups in Spanish.

Hospice in Spanish in Coachella, Indio and Cathedral City

Spanish is the language at home for many valley families: about 83% of Coachella residents aged 5 and over, about 52% in Indio, 50% in Desert Hot Springs and 47% in Cathedral City, in the same Census survey, and about 40% across the 14 ZIP codes. Our team includes Spanish speakers, and you can ask for Spanish when you call. The language link at the top switches this page to Spanish; see also hospice care in Spanish.

Coachella Valley hospice questions