Generally, hospice care begins when a person is expected to live less than six months. So, typically, the length you will be in hospice care is determined by how long you live after beginning care. Hospice care continues until end of life, and while it is impossible to 100% accurately predict when someone will pass, care will generally not be started until it appears that a patient’s life expectancy is six months or less. If a patient happens to live longer than six months in hospice, they can remain in hospice until the end of their life.

It is possible, however unlikely, that a patient may experience some type of rebound or revitalization while receiving hospice care. In a situation like this, hospice care can be withdrawn and then resumed if life expectancy returns to six months or less.