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Hospice Care at NYU Langone Hospital—Suffolk is a compassionate program for those with a limited life expectancy who are living at home or at a contracted skilled nursing facility.

Hospice care is meant for people in the final months of life and is different from palliative care, which is available at any time during a serious illness.

At NYU Langone Hospital—Suffolk, our hospice care program focuses on providing patients with the highest possible quality of life until death. Hospice services are coordinated by an interdisciplinary team that includes a physician, nurse, home health aide, nutrition counselor, social worker, a pastoral care counselor, and trained volunteers. Together they ensure continuity of patient and family care.

Hospice gives patients and their families the ability to actively participate in care decisions, maintain a sense of control, and reach improved levels of physical, emotional, and spiritual comfort. We work with you to help you get the resources you need, from answering day-to-day questions about the course of the illness to obtaining needed equipment, supplies, and medicine. We also help you learn skills to confidently provide care.

These are some of the services our hospice care provides:

• nursing care that emphasizes pain and symptom management, at home or in a skilled nursing facility
• a 24-hour on-call registered nurse
• inpatient and respite care at the hospital
• assistance with personal care
• spiritual and emotional counseling
• prescribed medications, medical supplies and equipment
• physical, occupational, and speech therapy
• nutritional counseling
• visits by trained, friendly hospice volunteers
• bereavement support
• children’s bereavement camp
• memorial services throughout the year

Qualifying for Hospice Care

Hospice Care at NYU Langone Hospital—Suffolk is available to any resident of Suffolk County who has been diagnosed with any life-limiting illness. The patient and their family must consent to hospice care, which focuses on comfort, not seeking a cure. There must also be the presence of another person who can aid the patient and act as a liaison between the patient and the hospice if a patient cannot act as their own representative. For more information about hospice care, call 631-687-2960.

Medicare, Blue Cross, Medicaid, and other health insurance companies cover hospice services.