Myth #5: It's always the doctor's responsibility to bring up hospice "The thing that we hear more than anything from people and their family members is that they wish they had understood hospice better and had accessed it earlier," says Tucci. Many patients don't know that they can initiate hospice care on their own, or how to start that process. Either they are afraid to discuss hospice or they are waiting for a physician to suggest it, which doesn't always happen, says Tucci. If a patient is receiving treatments they don't want anymore, they or a caregiver can initiate hospice by starting the conversation with their doctor or by contacting a local hospice provider directly to ask for an evaluation and determine qualification. Every illness has different indicators for when it might be time to begin hospice, says Tucci.
