Describe respite care and associated procedures and regulations as related to the hospice setting

Respite care provides an interval of rest for the primary caregiver and is provided to hospice patients in an approved (or contracted) facility (e.g., a nursing home, hospital, or hospice inpatient unit). Respite is provided on an occasional basis, for not more than five days at a time. The regulations are not specific on the definition of "occasional," but they do require hospices to evaluate families who require frequent respite periods to determine if the patient more appropriately belongs in a nursing home or inpatient hospice. When respite services are not provided by the hospice, but in a contracted facility, the hospice maintains a separate record from the facility providing the services. The nurse, social worker, hospice aide, and hospice physician continue to visit the patient and provide services as if the patient were still at home. The contracted facility staff members act as the primary caregivers when hospice staff members are not there. The clinical record must clearly indicate the need for respite services and also when and where the services are being provided. The hospice must obtain copies of the corresponding record from the facility providing respite care (if not the hospice itself) and incorporate these records in the current hospice clinical record.?