Disclaimer: Westlake Village Hospice Inc. is a licensed and Medicare-certified hospice care provider. We do not sell, prescribe, dispense, or ship prescription medications, and we do not operate an online pharmacy or telemedicine prescribing service. All hospice services are provided in person by licensed healthcare professionals. Any references to Medicare coverage, medication support, or medical coordination relate solely to patient care delivered under physician direction and do not constitute prescription drug sales or online medical services.
Inpatient Respite Care for Caregivers
Inpatient Respite Care
Temporary, professional care for your loved one so you can take a much-needed break to rest and recharge.
Supporting the Caregiver
Caregiving is a labor of love, but it can also be physically and emotionally exhausting. "Caregiver burnout" is a real risk. Medicare recognizes this and provides the Respite Care benefit. This service allows the patient to be temporarily admitted to a Medicare-approved facility (such as a nursing home or inpatient center) for up to 5 days and 5 nights.
How Respite Care Helps
- Allows caregivers to attend their own medical appointments or personal events
- Provides a few nights of uninterrupted sleep
- Allows family to travel for a short period
- Offers a safe, professional environment for the patient
- Fully covered by Medicare with no out-of-pocket cost
"You cannot pour from an empty cup." Taking time for yourself ensures you can continue to provide the best care for your loved one.
What to Expect
Day 1: Admission
We arrange transport to the contracted facility and ensure all medications are transferred.
Days 2-5: The Stay
The facility staff provides 24/7 care. Our hospice team continues to visit and oversee care.
Day 6: Return Home
Transport is arranged back home, and Routine Home Care resumes.
Arrange Respite Care
Planning a break? Contact us to schedule a respite stay at one of our contracted partner facilities.
818-791-0611Inpatient Respite Care: A Break for Caregivers — Covered by Medicare
Caring for a loved one at home through a terminal illness is one of the most demanding roles a human being can take on. The physical and emotional exhaustion that builds over weeks and months of caregiving — with interrupted sleep, constant vigilance, complex medication management, and the unrelenting weight of grief — is well documented. Caregiver burnout is not a sign of weakness. It is a predictable physiological and psychological response to sustained caregiving stress, and it must be addressed for the benefit of both caregiver and patient.
Recognizing this reality, Medicare built Inpatient Respite Care (IRC) into the hospice benefit specifically to give family caregivers a structured, covered break. For up to 5 consecutive days per period, the patient temporarily moves to a Medicare-approved inpatient facility — a skilled nursing facility, a hospice inpatient unit, or a hospital — where they continue receiving all their normal hospice care, while the primary caregiver rests, recovers, travels, or attends to personal needs.
At Westlake Village Hospice, we proactively discuss Inpatient Respite Care with families long before caregiver burnout reaches a critical point. We partner with skilled nursing facilities throughout Los Angeles, Ventura, and Orange Counties to ensure that respite stays are comfortable, smooth, and genuinely restorative.
Who Qualifies for Inpatient Respite Care?
Any patient enrolled in hospice under the Medicare Hospice Benefit is eligible to use Inpatient Respite Care. The key distinction from General Inpatient Care (GIC) is that the qualifying reason is caregiver need — not a change in the patient's medical condition. You do not need to demonstrate a medical crisis to access this benefit.
Caregiver Exhaustion
The primary family caregiver has reached physical or emotional exhaustion — loss of sleep, deteriorating health, inability to maintain safe care routines.
Medical Leave / Surgery
The primary caregiver needs to have a medical procedure, hospitalization, or surgery and cannot manage patient care from their own hospital bed.
Family Emergency
An emergency — a death in the family, travel for a legal matter, a natural disaster — makes it temporarily impossible to maintain home caregiving.
Planned Rest
Even without an emergency, families may choose to use respite proactively — before burnout sets in — to sustain long-term caregiving capacity.
What to Expect During an Inpatient Respite Stay
Coordination with our care team
Your hospice social worker or nurse identifies the need for respite and coordinates the logistics — available facility, transfer date, transport if needed, and insurance authorization.
Transfer to the facility
The patient is transported (by family vehicle or arranged transport) to the partner SNF or inpatient hospice unit. Our hospice team communicates the full care plan — medications, positioning needs, food preferences, spiritual care, and behavioral details — to the receiving facility.
Continued hospice care during the stay
The patient continues to receive all their hospice medications, equipment, and services during the respite stay. Our hospice nurse visits during the stay to maintain continuity and ensure care quality.
Return home after up to 5 days
When the 5-day period ends (or sooner if the family is ready), the patient returns home and Routine Home Care resumes. The 5-day clock resets, and another respite period can be used in the future if needed.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Inpatient Respite Care in hospice?
Inpatient Respite Care (IRC) is a Medicare-covered hospice benefit that provides short-term (up to 5 consecutive days) inpatient care in a Medicare-approved facility — such as a skilled nursing facility, hospice inpatient unit, or hospital — primarily to give the patient's primary family caregiver a necessary break. The patient's clinical condition does not need to worsen to qualify; the need for caregiver relief is sufficient. The patient receives all their usual hospice care during this stay.
How many days of inpatient respite care does Medicare cover?
Medicare covers Inpatient Respite Care for up to 5 consecutive days at a time. The 5-day clock resets after the patient returns home. There is no annual limit on how many respite periods a patient can use, but each individual stay is capped at 5 days. The patient may owe a small copayment of 5% of the Medicare-established payment rate for each day of respite care, which is typically a very modest amount.
Can we choose where the respite stay takes place?
The respite stay must occur in a Medicare-approved inpatient facility — a Medicare-certified skilled nursing facility (SNF), a hospice inpatient care unit, or a short-term hospital stay. The hospice agency coordinates with facilities in its network. At Westlake Village Hospice we work with several partner SNFs throughout Los Angeles, Ventura, and Orange Counties, and we will help your family identify the most convenient and comfortable option.
Is respite care only for the benefit of the caregiver, or does the patient also benefit?
Both benefit. While Inpatient Respite Care exists under Medicare specifically to relieve family caregivers, patients often benefit from the increased staffing ratio, on-site medical staff, and structured environment of a skilled nursing facility. For patients whose family caregivers are experiencing burnout, respite care is sometimes the intervention that allows the caregiver to return home renewed and capable of continuing to provide high-quality care.
Need a Break? You Deserve One.
Talk to our social worker about scheduling an Inpatient Respite Care stay. There is no paperwork burden on your end — we handle everything.
Call 818-791-0611 — We Handle the Details