Going Home on Hospice from Corewell Health Royal Oak: A Family Guide

Updated September 2026. Written and reviewed by the Lily Hospice clinical team.

If a doctor at Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital in Royal Oak has mentioned hospice, you can choose any Medicare-certified hospice. Your loved one can usually go home within a day or two. The hospice evaluates, delivers a hospital bed and comfort medications, and a nurse visits soon after arrival.

Lily Hospice is an independent hospice and is not affiliated with Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital.

Many families still call it “Beaumont Royal Oak.” Its current name is Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital, at 3601 W. 13 Mile Road, Royal Oak, MI 48073. The main number listed on its website is 248.898.5000. Corewell Health describes it as a 1,101-bed regional referral hub with an Advanced Comprehensive Stroke Center and the Rose Cancer Center. That means people arrive from all over Oakland and Macomb counties, often after a stroke, a cancer setback or a long ICU stay. This guide is for the moment someone on the floor says the word “hospice.”

What the hospital team usually does

In a large teaching hospital, several people may talk with you about hospice. The attending physician or hospitalist often raises it first. A palliative care clinician may meet with the family to talk through goals. A case manager or social worker then handles the discharge plan and sends the referral.

Here is the part families are rarely told plainly. Medicare lets the patient choose any Medicare-certified hospice that serves their home. The hospital may hand you a list or suggest a name. You can still pick a different one, and you can say so at any point. Compare options in our metro Detroit hospice directory and use the checklist in how to choose a hospice.

From “hospice was mentioned” to home

Most families expect weeks of paperwork. In practice the steps are short.

1. Referral. You tell the case manager which hospice you want. They send the chart and a physician order. You can also call the hospice yourself first.
2. Evaluation. A hospice nurse reviews the records and meets the patient and family, often at the bedside. Two physicians decide on eligibility, usually the attending and the hospice medical director.
3. Equipment. The hospice orders a hospital bed, a bedside commode, oxygen if needed and other supplies. These usually arrive at the house before your loved one does, or the same day.
4. Comfort medications. The hospice arranges medications for pain, breathlessness, anxiety and other symptoms, delivered to the home.
5. The ride home and the first visit. The hospital typically arranges transport. A hospice nurse comes to the house soon after arrival to settle things and answer questions.

For timing details, see how fast hospice can start and what happens on the first hospice visit.

Questions to ask before discharge

• Which medications continue at home, and which ones stop?
• Is oxygen needed for the ride home, and who is providing it?
• Who arranges the transport, what time, and who pays for it?
• Do we have a signed out-of-hospital do-not-resuscitate order, if that is the wish?
• Will the patient’s own doctor stay involved? (They can. See keeping your own doctor on hospice.)
• If there was a stroke, can the patient swallow safely, and what should we feed them?

On discharge day, the hospital’s site says to ask the patient’s nurse which entrance to use for pickup. That small detail saves a lot of circling on a busy campus.

Getting home to Royal Oak and nearby cities

The hospital sits on 13 Mile Road near Woodward. Many patients live within a few miles, in Royal Oak, Clawson, Berkley, Madison Heights, Ferndale and Birmingham. Others go home to Troy, Southfield or Warren. Lily serves all of these communities, along with the rest of Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.

See our local pages for Royal Oak, Troy, Southfield, Warren and all of Oakland County. If the illness is a stroke, our stroke hospice guide covers swallowing, positioning and what recovery can and cannot look like.

Going to a nursing home or assisted living instead

Home is not always a house. Some patients go from Royal Oak to a daughter’s home, an assisted living apartment, or a nursing facility. Hospice follows the person to any of these places. The facility provides daily care and meals. The hospice manages symptoms, medications, equipment and family support.

One thing to know: the Medicare hospice benefit does not pay for room and board in a facility. How hospice works in assisted living or a nursing home explains the costs and the roles.

How Lily works with families leaving Royal Oak

Lily Hospice is family-owned, Medicare-certified and ACHC-accredited, with an office in Troy. When a family calls from a Royal Oak hospital room, a real person answers, day or night. A nurse evaluation is usually possible within 24 hours, and often the same day. Admission is often the same day once the order and consents are in place.

Weekends do not have to mean waiting until Monday. Read how to start hospice this weekend. You can also see our Medicare results on the quality scores page.

Common questions

Do we have to use the hospice the hospital suggests?

No. Medicare lets the patient choose any Medicare-certified hospice that serves their area. Tell the case manager which one you want, and they will send the referral there.

How quickly can someone go home from Royal Oak on hospice?

Often within one or two days of the decision, and sometimes the same day. The usual delays are the physician order, equipment delivery and transport, and a hospice can work on all three at once.

Can hospice start if the patient had a stroke and cannot swallow?

Yes. The hospice team plans for swallowing problems, mouth care and positioning. Whether to continue a feeding tube is a decision the family makes with the doctors.

Will the hospital bed be there when we get home?

Usually, yes. The hospice orders equipment as soon as the admission is planned, and it typically arrives before or on the same day as the patient.

Does Medicare pay for hospice at home after a hospital stay?

Yes. Medicare Part A covers the hospice team, medications, equipment and supplies related to the terminal illness. What Medicare covers in Michigan.

Is Lily Hospice part of Corewell Health?

No. Lily Hospice is an independent, family-owned hospice based in Troy. Families at any hospital can choose Lily, or any other Medicare-certified hospice.

Hospice isn’t giving up. It’s showing up.

Call (248) 955-5100. A real person answers, 24 hours a day. Also see our general guide, going home on hospice from the hospital.