Welcome to Hospice East Bay

Hospice East Bay Annual Report for 2023

The No Surprises Act* introduced new requirements for health care providers to protect individuals from surprise medical bills. As a client of Hospice East Bay, please know that:

You have the right to receive a “Good Faith Estimate” explaining how much your health care will cost. Under the law, health care providers need to give patients who don’t have certain types of health care coverage or who are not using certain types of health care coverage an estimate of their bill for health care items and services before those items or services are provided.

*Title I (No Surprises Act) of Division BB of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA) amended title XXVII of the Public Health Service Act (PHS Act).

Discrimination is Against the Law

Hospice East Bay complies with applicable Federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex consistent with the scope of sex discrimination described at 45 CFR § 92.101(a)(2), including sex characteristics, intersex traits; pregnancy or related conditions; sexual orientation; gender identity, and sex stereotypes. Hospice East Bay does not exclude people or treat them less favorably because of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex.

Hospice East Bay:

• Provides people with disabilities reasonable modifications and free appropriate auxiliary aids and services to communicate effectively with us, such as: – Qualified sign language interpreters, – Written information in other formats (large print, audio, accessible electronic formats, other formats).

• Provides free language assistance services to people whose primary language is not English, which may include: – Qualified interpreters, – Information written in other languages.
• If you need reasonable modifications, appropriate auxiliary aids and services, or language assistance services, contact your Case Manager.

If you believe that Hospice East Bay has failed to provide these services or discriminated in another way on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex, you can file a grievance with: Director of Compliance and Ethics, 3470 Buskirk Avenue, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523, tel: (925) 887-5678, fax: (925) 887-5679, or email [email protected].

You can file a grievance in person or by mail, fax, or email. If you need help filing a grievance, the Director of Compliance and Ethics is available to help you. You can also file a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, electronically through the Office for Civil Rights Complaint Portal, available at https://ocrportal.hhs.gov/ocr/portal/lobby.jsf, or by mail or phone at:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, SW
Room 509F, HHH Building
Washington, D.C. 20201
1-800-368-1019, 800-537-7697 (TDD) Complaint forms are available at http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/office/file/index.html.

SPANISH
ATENCIÓN: si habla español, tiene a su disposición servicios gratuitos de asistencia lingüística. Llame a l (925) 887-5678.

CHINESE
注意：如果您使用繁體中文，您可以免費獲得語言援助服務。請致電 l (925) 887-5678.

VIETNAMESE
CHÚ Ý: Nếu bạn nói Tiếng Việt, có các dịch vụ hỗ trợ ngôn ngữ miễn phí dành cho bạn. Gọi số l (925) 887-5678.

TAGALOG
PAUNAWA: Kung nagsasalita ka ng Tagalog, maaari kang gumamit ng mga serbisyo ng tulong sa wika nang walang bayad. Tumawag sa l (925) 887-5678.

KOREAN
주의: 한국어를사용하시는경우, 언어지원서비스를무료로이용하실수있습니다 l (925) 887-5678.

ARMENIAN
ՈՒՇԱԴՐՈՒԹՅՈՒՆ՝ Եթե խոսում եք հայերեն, ապա ձեզ անվճար կարող են տրամադրվել լեզվական աջակցության ծառայություններ: Զանգահարեք l (925) 887-5678.

PERSIAN (FARSI)
توجه: اگر به زبان فارسی گفتگو می کنید، تسهیلات زبانی بصورت رایگان برای شما فراهم می باشد. با l (925) 887-5678.

RUSSIAN
ВНИМАНИЕ: Если вы говорите на русском языке, то вам доступны бесплатные услуги перевода. Звоните l (925) 887-5678.

JAPANESE
注意事項：日本語を話される場合、無料の言語支援をご利用いただけます l (925) 887-5678.

ARABIC
ملحوظة: إذا كنت تتحدث اذكر اللغة، فإن خدمات المساعدة اللغوية تتوافر لك بالمجان. اتصل برقم (925) 887-5678 1

PUNJABI
ਧਿਆਨ ਦਿਓ: ਜੇ ਤੁਸੀਂ ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਬੋਲਦੇ ਹੋ, ਤਾਂ ਭਾਸ਼ਾ ਵਿੱਚ ਸਹਾਇਤਾ ਸੇਵਾ ਤੁਹਾਡੇ ਲਈ ਮੁਫਤ ਉਪਲਬਧ ਹੈ l (925) 887-5678.

MON-KHMER, CAMBODIAN
ប្រយ័ត្ន៖ បើសិនជាអ្នកនិយាយ ភាសាខ្មែរ, សេវាជំនួយផ្នែកភាសា ដោយមិនគិតឈ្នួល គឺអាចមានសំរាប់បំរើអ្នក។ ចូរ ទូរស័ព្ទ l (925) 887-5678.

HMONG
LUS CEEV: Yog tias koj hais lus Hmoob, cov kev pab txog lus, muaj kev pab dawb rau koj. Hu rau l (925) 887-5678.

HINDI
ध्यान दें: यदि आप हिंदी बोलते हैं तो आपके लिए मुफ्त में भाषा सहायता सेवाएं उपलब्ध हैं। l (925) 887-5678.

THAI
เรียน: ถ้าคุณพูดภาษาไทยคุณสามารถใช้บริการช่วยเหลือทางภาษาได้ฟรี โทร l (925) 887-5678.

If you have a concern or suspect a compliance issue exists, please report it to us! We want to know about any potential problems so we can address them. Please know that compliance concerns are kept confidential.

There are several ways to report:

• Call our toll-free confidential Compliance Hotline at 1-877-572-0665. You can report anonymously if you prefer.
• Send an email with your concern to [email protected].
• Contact Debra Batten, Chief Compliance Officer directly at (925) 510-0740 or by email at [email protected].

Hospice East Bay Policy for Supporting Patients who express interest in or acquire life-ending medication under the End-of-Life Option Act.

Hospice East Bay recognizes the patient’s right to make choices that fit his or her personal goals of care, values and beliefs. That right extends to the legal right under California law (End of Life Option Act) to end their lives with prescribed medication. No patient will be denied services by Hospice East Bay based on interest or active participation in the Act.

Current hospice patients who express interest in the End-of-Life Option Act will be given the opportunity to explore their reasons further with the interdisciplinary team. Hospice staff members and volunteers will be helped to explore their own beliefs and values and will be educated in responding respectfully to patients.

Staff members or volunteers who wish to not work with patients who intend to pursue or participate in the Act shall support Hospice East Bay to ensure a smooth transition of care to maintain patient dignity and comfort.

Procedure

All Hospice East Bay employees will be educated on the agency’s policy concerning the Act. Volunteers will be offered the same education.

Hospice East Bay recognizes that each individual employee/volunteer will need to thoughtfully consider whether it is within their own ability, values and beliefs to provide care for patients who are requesting medication to hasten death. It is not the intent of Hospice East Bay to assume staff/volunteer involvement. It is the employee’s or volunteer’s responsibility to inform their manager of their wish to care for patients who are requesting medication to hasten death, including discussion and requests for information. Managers will be responsible for assessing and, if needed, reassigning staff or volunteers to ensure excellent patient care.

Employees who engage directly with patients will be educated at orientation and ongoing on the following:

• How to respond when a patient mentions the Act or indicates interest in acquiring end of life medication;
• Maintaining a nonjudgmental stance to preserve patient dignity and to avoid communicating any negativity;
• How to utilize patient interest to engage in dialogue about end of life wishes or concerns with current plan of care;
• How to carry out the agency’s best practice standards for responding to requests;
• Their role in providing ongoing care.

Employees/volunteers who choose to opt out of providing care will request a reassignment from their supervisor. These employees/volunteers will work to ensure patients do not feel devalued or abandoned.

No employee or volunteer shall attempt to influence in any way another employee or volunteer in his/her beliefs or opinions regarding the Act. The agency will fully respect the personal beliefs of all employees and volunteers without question or discrimination.