Hospice Care in Macomb County, MI
Written and reviewed by the Lily Hospice clinical team.
Our office is in Troy, just across the Dequindre Road line from Sterling Heights. For most of Macomb County that puts a Lily nurse a short drive away: Warren and Sterling Heights closest, Clinton Township and Shelby Township a little farther, the lakeshore towns and northern townships at the outer edge. We say that up front because Macomb families ask it first and deserve a straight answer.
Below are the three questions we hear most here, then the Medicare benefit, county resources, and the communities we serve.
“Can hospice really happen in my house?”
Yes, and in Macomb County it usually does: the brick ranches of Warren and Roseville, the split-levels off Schoenherr and Hayes in Sterling Heights, the newer subdivisions along 23 Mile in Macomb Township and Chesterfield, the canal houses in Harrison Township and St. Clair Shores.
Hospice at home starts with a visit, not a move. A Lily nurse comes to your kitchen table, examines your wife, and works out a plan with you. Equipment arrives: a hospital bed if it will help, oxygen, a bedside commode. Medications for pain and symptoms are delivered. Then the rhythm begins: scheduled nurse visits, aide visits for personal care, a social worker for paperwork and hard family conversations, a chaplain if you want one, volunteers if you need a break, and bereavement support for your family afterward.
If you are in assisted living, memory care or a nursing facility along Hall Road or Garfield, the same team comes to you there, and we coordinate with the facility so nobody is doubling up or leaving gaps.
“What happens at 3 a.m.?”
You call (248) 955-5100 and a person answers, not an answering service. A Lily nurse talks with you, and if a visit is needed, a nurse comes to Shelby Township or Eastpointe or wherever you are, at night, on a holiday, in a February ice storm on Gratiot.
Medicare requires 24/7 coverage of every hospice, but how a hospice staffs it varies enormously. Ours is a real person, every hour, which is part of why we focus on three counties rather than the whole state we are licensed in.
“Is my dad eligible, and how do we start?”
Medicare hospice has two requirements. A physician must certify that, if the illness follows its expected course, life expectancy is six months or less. And the patient (or the person with authority to decide for him) must choose care aimed at comfort rather than curing the terminal illness.
Eligibility is about the whole picture, not the diagnosis label: weight loss, repeated hospital stays, increasing weakness, more time in bed.
To start, call us. We will reach your doctor, whether that is a primary care practice in Fraser or a specialist at Henry Ford Macomb Hospital in Clinton Township or McLaren Macomb in Mount Clemens, handle the certification, and often admit within a day. Discharge planners at those hospitals, and at Henry Ford Warren Hospital, can refer directly if you ask for Lily by name.
What Medicare pays for, and what you might owe
Medicare Part A pays Lily directly. Covered: nursing, aide, social work, chaplain and volunteer services; medications, equipment and supplies related to the terminal illness; short-term inpatient care; and bereavement support. You may pay up to $5 per prescription for symptom-control drugs and 5% of the Medicare-approved amount for inpatient respite. Care unrelated to the terminal illness continues under regular Medicare.
The benefit runs two 90-day periods, then unlimited 60-day periods, with recertification at each step. You can revoke hospice at any time and come back later. Four levels of care exist: routine home care, continuous home care (extended nursing hours during a crisis), inpatient respite (up to five consecutive days) and general inpatient care (for symptoms that cannot be controlled at home). Medicaid and most commercial plans follow the same model. Source: medicare.gov; the National Alliance for Care at Home.
Respite, honestly explained
Macomb caregivers tend to be stubborn about doing it themselves. We respect that. But if you have been up four nights in a row, respite is not quitting. Inpatient respite places your mother in a facility for up to five consecutive days while you sleep or see your own doctor. Volunteers can also give you a few hours at home.
Still in treatment? Ask about Pathways
If your husband is still receiving dialysis, chemotherapy or heart treatment, the Pathways Palliative Program provides symptom control and care planning alongside it. It is billed as Medicare Part B visits, so no six-month certification is required. See
the Pathways Palliative Program.
Macomb County resources
- Area Agency on Aging 1-B serves Macomb County (along with Oakland and four others). Call it about in-home help, caregiver respite grants, Meals on Wheels and the MI Choice waiver.
- Macomb County Department of Veterans’ Services in Mount Clemens assists veterans and surviving spouses with VA claims, including Aid and Attendance. With Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Harrison Township, Macomb has a deep veteran community. Lily’s Veteran Advisory Committee and Veteran Rapid Response program are at our veterans page. We are working toward VA Community Care Network participation; we are not veteran-owned, and we will not tell you otherwise.
- Macomb County Office of Senior Services and the municipal senior centers in Sterling Heights, Clinton Township, Warren and Shelby Township are good sources for transportation and adult day programs.
Why families here choose Lily
Family-owned, based in Troy, Medicare-certified and ACHC-accredited. Nobody outside Michigan sets our visit schedules. A person answers the phone, every time. Our Journey Program uses virtual reality to take a homebound patient somewhere else for a while: a ballpark, a lakeshore, a cathedral, a country they left decades ago. More at
why families choose Lily.
Macomb County city pages
We also serve: Armada, Bruce Township, Center Line, Chesterfield Township, Eastpointe, Fraser, Harrison Township, Lenox Township, Macomb Township, Memphis, Mount Clemens, New Baltimore, New Haven, Ray Township, Richmond, Romeo, Roseville, St. Clair Shores, Shelby Township, Utica, Warren and Washington Township.
Neighboring counties: Oakland County and Wayne County.
How to reach us from Macomb County
From Sterling Heights and Warren, our office in Troy (2125 Butterfield Dr, Suite 299) is a short drive west. From Clinton Township and the lakeshore, M-59 (Hall Road) west toward I-75 gets you to Troy in about 30 minutes. Most families never need to visit; we come to you.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take a Lily nurse to reach Chesterfield or New Baltimore? Longer than Warren, and we plan for it. Scheduled visits are set with the drive in mind, and when an urgent night visit is needed, an on-call nurse is sent.
My mother is in a nursing home in Clinton Township. Does she lose her room if she goes on hospice? No. Hospice is added to her facility care. Room and board is a separate arrangement with the facility and is not paid by the hospice benefit.
Can we choose Lily if the hospital recommended a different hospice? Yes. You have the right to choose any Medicare-certified hospice. Tell the discharge planner you want Lily.
Talk to us
Call (248) 955-5100, any hour, and a real person will answer. Or write to us at our contact page. We serve every community in Macomb County from our office in Troy.