However, it is an alternative that needs to be fixed, he added. Unfortunately, patients and families identify hospice with death and not living with illness and having the opportunity to face death well, he said. Although patients are usually referred late and the average length of stay in a hospice is only 25 days, hospices are not intended for just the very end of life, he noted. If patients don't retain their non-hospice care physician, they aren't as likely to see a doctor as often once they enter hospice, said Portenoy. Sometimes maintaining the continuity of care from hospital to hospice is difficult, he said.
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