General Info:
Sunflower Health Care's Topeka marketing office opened in 2010 as a result of a expanded demand for our services. Today Sunflower is one of the largest providers in the Kansas City metro. The secret to our success: quality caring support for patients and their family, love ones and caregivers. Our experienced team of professionals deliver the care patients need with the comfort they deserve. We believe that the hospice benefit is the most misunderstood benefit in health care today. The hospice umbrella has expanded a great deal since its inception and now encompasses a plethora of services and covers many more diagnoses than it once did. Despite all of that, sadly, the amount of patients that actually enjoy the benefit falls far short of the number who could qualify for it - and even the ones who do often start the service much later then they could have. On a daily basis, we combat the stigma of what hospice used to be and we try to eliminate the thinking of "it's time to call in hospice" just a day or two before death. Our mission is to educate the public as well as the medical community what hospice really is and how it can help patients and their families Hospice patients benefit by receiving compassionate care and expert pain management in their home by a specially trained team of professionals, working together to ensure the highest quality of life possible. Hospice patient’s families benefit by receiving assistance with the care of their loved one. This assistance can come in the form of training, direct care, access to medical professionals, help with homemaker chores and transportation or even just relief for personal time to spend as they see fit. They are an integral part of the patient's plan of care and we value and respect their wishes for their loved one. Hospice physicians benefit by ensuring their patients follow a plan of care specifically designed to optimize life for their patients and having a team to serve as an extension of their care that acts as a liaison between doctor and patient. Medicare benefits by delivering positive outcomes for their patients at the lowest possible expense. In the early 2000's, the hospice benefit was used almost exclusively for cancer patients in their last days. Today, the hospice benefit is authorized for a variety of diagnoses, including Heart Failure, Pulmonary Disease, Cancer, Coma, Stroke, ALS, Alzheimer's/Dementia, HIV, Liver Disease, Renal Failure and even General Debility/Decline. The guidelines state that the patient’s physician and the hospice medical director must certify that the patient is terminally ill and has 6 months or less to live, should the illness run its normal course. Hospice does not shorten life. In fact NPHCO 2010 Facts states in the report: Impact of Hospice Care on Survival