How Soon Do You Need Us? VITAS Is Always Available

You worry about your patients. You get late-night calls from the family of a seriously ill patient. The ED notifies you that a patient presented again, frightened and symptomatic. Or maybe a patient is canceling appointments at your office because they can't get out of the house anymore.

Return trips to the hospital, multiple calls to the doctor's office and becoming more homebound are signs that the patient may be hospice eligible. Who has the bandwidth to care for patients like this?

VITAS clinicians are available 24/7: Call 800.582.9533

VITAS Healthcare can help. We have clinicians on duty day and night to answer the questions of our referral sources, set up a hospice evaluation, or arrange an admission. If you need a VITAS admissions nurse to see your patient in the ED at 4 a.m., we make that possible. 

VITAS offers the services and resources to help patients return to and remain in their home, whether that is a house, apartment, nursing home, assisted living community, or residential care facility for the elderly.

VITAS comes to the patient

The VITAS hospice team brings whatever is needed, related to the terminal diagnosis, right to the patient. They assess the clinical, psychosocial and spiritual needs of the patient and other family members. Together, the family and the nurse, hospice aide, social worker, chaplain, volunteer and bereavement specialist address pain and other symptoms, hopes, worries and other concerns that affect the quality of life at the end of life.

Read more: Your Patient Can Be Home with Hospice Care

It is the team that enables the patient to remain at home and continue to get hands-on, customized care. The family caregiver receives education on how to care for the patient, what symptoms to expect, and how to look after themselves.

No 9-1-1. Call VITAS any time.

In an emergency or when a caregiver just needs to talk, our Care Connection Center means there is a someone available to talk, provide medical advice, order supplies or dispatch a member of the team to the home-any time of the day, any day of the year.

VITAS is committed to preventing unnecessary hospital readmissions. Continuous care teams can remain in the home for up to 24 hours a day when medically necessary to manage symptoms and make the patient comfortable-without calling 9-1-1. If symptoms cannot be managed in the home, we work to identify a local inpatient hospice bed for the patient.

The VITAS team keeps the attending physician informed of changes in the patient's status, but there are no late-night calls, no crisis management required by the PCP.

Whether the patient is high acuity and their care needs are complex, or the family needs support and assurance as they cope with end-stage illness at home, VITAS is with them every step of the way. We are the choice of clinicians, because we are always available.