Our goal at Solace Hospice is to make it easier for you to care for your patients. You remain the physician in charge. We simply support you with an interdisciplinary team of medical, spiritual, and social work professionals. And volunteers!
Tired of slow response times? Solace Hospice has a track record of responding within the hour—if not sooner.
We welcome physician participation in the development of the care plan and adjust our communication patterns to fit your preference.
Resources to help you help families Part of our unique commitment to you includes educational articles for families, available 24/7. We invite you to use and print out any article you like regarding these common, day-to-day issues of caregiving and serious illness:
Difficult Symptoms Support for common problems with serious illness, from managing pain and dyspnea to easing fatigue, nausea, depression, and anxiety.
Emotional-Spiritual Issues Reframing hope in the context of serious illness. Learning to balance joy and grief, resolve family conflict, and explore some of the spiritual questions that arise in challenging times.
Living with Illness Tips for families as they navigate the daily realities of cancer, CHF, COPD, and dementia.
Important Decisions Questions and reflections to help define goals of care. What comprises quality of life for the patient? Straight talk about life support measures and likely outcomes. Explanation of the advance directive.
Once they experience hospice, most patients and families ask, “Why didn’t we hear about this before?”
Plus research indicates that hospice patients not only experience a better quality of life, but also increased quantity. They tend to live longer.
If your patients are experiencing any of the following, it is likely time to consider a hospice discussion. Give us a call at 602.888.7037 and we’ll gladly do an informational visit to help your patient decide if hospice is right for them.
Sudden weight loss
Difficulty breathing
Increased fatigue and weakness
Prolonged sleeping
Multiple hospitalizations/ER visits in recent months
Eligibility criteria
Below are the specific eligibility criteria to receive 100% Medicare coverage for hospice services, durable medical equipment, and medications related to the terminal condition:
Although the Medicare benefit for hospice is for patients expected to live 6 months or less, CMS knows that no one has a crystal ball. Cancer has a fairly predictable trajectory. But many noncancer conditions (e.g., CHF, COPD, advanced Alzheimer’s) defy prognostication. This is where your insight as a clinician comes to the fore.
“Would you be surprised if this patient were to die in the next 6-12 months?”
The “surprised” question is often the best indicator that a hospice discussion could be in order.
If a patient lives longer
Medicare grants patients an initial 90-day period of coverage, with one renewal. If a patient lives longer than 6 months, there is no penalty. As long as the patient is continuing to decline, he or she can have hospice support renewed every 60 days.
With expert symptom management and the support of the interdisciplinary team, hospice patients will often live longer, and with a better quality of life, than those who do not receive hospice. This is great news! There is no doubt that attention to the body, mind, heart, and spirit makes a patient’s day-to-day life better.
If a patient improves
Should a patient’s health improve to the point that he or she is not declining, the patient can “graduate” from hospice. There are no penalties from Medicare. CMS understands that improvement is sometimes part of the process. And if things change and the patient’s health begins to decline again, he or she can go back on hospice with no recrimination.
The “H” word is not one that patients want to hear. And not a favorite discussion for most doctors. That said, there is no doubt that patients and surviving family members do better with the support of hospice.
Sooner rather than later Many guidelines suggest that doctors first introduce hospice if they anticipate a patient is likely to die within a year. Sadly, those conversations are usually postponed until a crisis, resulting in late referrals and far less benefit for both the patient and family.
“Hospice specializes in helping you manage patient’s challenges so you can spend the time and energy you have focusing on patient’s goal.”
The issue of hope Some doctors say they don’t want to bring up hospice because they don’t want their patients to lose hope. We heartily recommend you read our article, Hope and Serious Illness.
It will give you a new perspective on reframing hope to focus on achievable goals (while there is still capacity) and finding moments of joy and anticipation every day. In the last analysis, hospice is about hope, adding life to your patient’s days, and facilitating those activities and events that give life meaning.
Introducing hospice
Here are steps outlined by Drs. Quill and Casarett for introducing hospice in a positive and effective manner:
“What is your understanding of your condition?”
Find out what the patient thinks about the severity of his or her condition and the likely outcome.
“Tell me a bit about your goals. What’s important to you to do?”
These can be treatment goals, but assessing life goals (to complete a project, go to a family event, spend more time in the garden…) will give you a strong reference point in this shared decision-making discussion. If the goals are unrealistic, this might be a time to reframe expectations: “I wish I could say *** is likely, but I’m not sure that’s realistic. What you might consider is ***.”
“Tell me about your days at home. What are the challenges?”
For instance, are they having trouble with ADLs, such as getting dressed or bathing? Which symptoms are especially bothersome? How are things emotionally? Socially, in the family?
“What if you could have help with these things?”
Hospice can provide a home health aide to give baths. A social worker to talk to about feelings or support programs. A volunteer to give periodic respite to a family caregiver. There is also telephone support 24/7, home visits by a nurse to monitor and manage symptoms, and access to a nondenominational chaplain to discuss spiritual concerns or distress.
“What have you heard about hospice?”
At this point, the patient or family member may glaze over, as they often do once they hear the word “hospice.” But at least they have heard the benefits first. Respond to their emotions and address any misconceptions they may have. After this, you can make the referral whenever they are ready.
When hospice is introduced in this way, patients hear the benefits and you are able to draw a connection between what they want (personal life goals) and hospice’s ability to help.
I would be in a world of madness without Ashelee and Diane. Their genuine care and follow through provided peace during the most trying days of my life. So thankful for Solace and their entire support team.
Solace Hospice cared for my husband during the last weeks of his life. Our team was compassionate, professional, and always available to provide direct care, arrange transport, or just talk. We felt encompassed by their excellent care and commitment throughout this journey.
As an Aging Specialist, a Senior Resource Center and over 20 years experience with Seniors “Solace Hospice” has excelled in comfort care and palliative care! They have been one of our preferred providers for years in Arizona. Their involvement in the Industry, their caring staff and their professional approach is appropriate when families need them most. Costel Roman the Director of Business Relations is the biggest advocate I have met in his Industry. Solace Hospice you are appreciated by thousands of families and Senior Living Communities in Arizona.
We could not be more grateful to Solace Hospice and their staff for taking care of our loved one, even though he was on service a short time. Everyone was so sweet to us and him and were very responsive to our needs and requests. The staff was skilled, informative, and available at any time of the day or night. Most importantly, they care about us. They spend time with us. We laugh together and cry together. We always looked forward to visits. Thank y'all for everything.
Been working with Solace Hospice for over a year and never cease to amaze me! They cater to each individuals needs and go beyond the scope of service. Stephanie, Sammy, Diane and Costel are doing a fantastic job, giving 110% of love and hard work and making sure everything that it’s needed arrives within 24 hours. If you’re looking for a great Hospice give them a chance, they will never disappoint.
I can’t say enough about Solace Hospice. The level of care and attention to personal detail is so much higher than the other hospice company I dealt with. My family recently experienced the loss of our mother followed by our father in fairly close succession. All I can say is thank you Solace and I wish I had discovered you sooner. My mom’s passing was handled by another company. I can tell you they are not the same. Solace operates with a premium degree of care and compassion during such a difficult time
I cannot thank Solace Hospice enough for the amount of love and support they have provided my family with during this hard time. They were attentive, caring, informative and overall extremely experienced in this field.A special thanks to Maggie, Bevery, Katie, Janet, Diana, (just a few of the many) for the help you provided.Thank you all so much!!!Enea
I would like to express my gratitude to Costel Roman - Director of Business Relation at Solace Hospice, Thomas Fedzin - Owner of Solace Hospice during a difficult time in my life. There is never an easy moment to loose a loved one. Costel Roman and Solace Hospice have helped my mother to go to Heaven and be with the angels peacefully. God bless all of you for being by my side!!!
Solace Hospic is Definitely #1 Hospic in Arizona a team that’s Compassionate towards the needs of not only patients but owners and also caregivers. Costel Roman is so Professional and always gets the job done . Ask him what he can’t do he will tell you what he can do to make the experience working with solace comfortable as possible. Solace will always be my go to Hospic.
I absolutely LOVE working with Costel and and Beverly!! Costel (AKA Roman) has excellent communication and I value his team immensely! I highly recommend this team if you are looking for a hospice company with great communication skills, friendly faces, and caring hearts!
As a nurse and the owner of several assisted livings, I have had many encounters with different hospices.Solace Hospice has been amazing and has gone above and beyond for my patients and their families! Always helpful, always receptive to the patients needs and always there when needed.Thank you Solace for the outstanding care and dedication your company and your staff provides.
We are so glad and relieved to have met Costel Roman of Solace Hospice.When he came to our assisted living homes and introduced himself he sat with us and explained Solace Hospice’s vision and approach to compassionate high quality care.We were very pleased to hear that residents and families needs are above all else.These past months we worked along side them with a few of our families in our homes .We cannot praise Costel and all of Solace’s staff Enough on the quality of care,professionalism demonstrated and the compassion showed by all of Solace’s staff to the families and our team.We will only recommend a company to our families if we know and experienced first hand that they are among the best in their profession.Congratulations to Solace for putting together an outstanding team. You guys definitely exceeded 5 stars! Luis Pescador.
We were recently reintroduced to Solace Hospice by Costel Roman and Jesse Watson, two of their community liasons, and in the process were impressed with their client-focused service. The biggest selling point for us as a group home is that they were not going to be a hospice that simply stopped fighting for a client and allowed them to die. Many of our residents and their families initially are fearful of the word “hospice” and typically think it means a death sentence. Many of them are not ready to give up the good fight and Solace has been a partner with our home to ensure the resident, their family, and our group homes are all respected and active partners in the continued care and needs of the resident. Everyone from their intake staff, RNs, and CNAs was compassionate, caring, and dutiful in their tasks. Special mention goes to the Nurse assigned to our home, Sabrina. She helped us guide the resident and their family through the difficult process of passing away, and her knowledge and compassion for my resident and her family will never be forgotten. Owning three different group home locations has given me plenty of experience and exposure to many different Hospice companies, but without a doubt, Solace Hospice is one of the best. I can not recommend them enough, whether you be a group home, a family member of a loved one, or someone looking to work at a hospice company. Thank you Costel, your team provided me much peace of mind. I look forward to continue to working with your team.
I cannot begin to describe the gratitude and appreciation my family feels about the experience we had with Solace Hospice. I didn’t know quite what to expect at the time when my father was on your service. My father had such great care! My concerns were quickly relieved. Thank you for the kindness and compassion you have given to us and for the genuine concern for my father and for our family. We sincerely appreciate your tireless effort to care for all your patients and their loved ones, and your eagerness to assist at every turn.
I own 5 assisted living group homes around the Phoenix area. I am always relieved when my residents and their families choose Solace Hospice to help their loved one. I can always rely on Thomas and his staff to take care of my residents. They interact incredibly well with my caregivers and offer assistance 24/7. And they back it up. There have been numerous times when we needed some help from Solace in the middle of the night. Someone from Solace would come out to the home without hesitation and take care of everything. Thank you Thomas for running such a wonderful company!
Great professional help during a hard time. Thank you for making things easier to manage during our time of need. They gave our loved one lots of comfort any time he needed it. Which added relief to me as I knew he was in good hands. Thank you so much Thomas and staff!
Thomas and staff were always friendly and available to help us. We learned so much about our Client’s situations. They are definitely very knowledgeable and confident of what they do to help our clients in our group home meet their needs.
