VITAS Healthcare

My mother’s death hit my entire family very hard. She was rushed to the ER on 10÷13÷15 and we were told that she would need hospice care on ¹⁰⁄₁₆. My family and I met with Rosanna Perez and her nurse (can’t remember her name) and they had so much compassion and patience with us. We spoke for about an hour (it seemed) and decided that we needed to honor my mother’s wishes of going home. So they arranged her home transport (even got us a price break on the transport) and within 4 hours of being home, surrounded by her family and a CARING and patient VITAS nurse — my mom passed away after her 1 year battle with Esophageal Cancer. I can’t thank VITAS enough for the precious gift they gave my family. They kept my mom comfortable and supported us throughout the whole process.
Home hospice was the right choice for my mom in her particular situation and they helped us see what the pros and cons were for both facility and home hospice.

Their follow-​up care for families is non-​intrusive and beneficial. Please tap here to see my previous review, it was a prayer answered working with this company. Thank you VITAS. I encourage anyone to message me for my detailed experience.

MY FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE… I just alive and can speak to this poor company.
Watch the service day 1 great then day 2 poor if your love one is still under there services a month it’s by the grace of God. These Devil just want to log visit walk up and out with no care and no service. I think they get most of their clients from nursing homes because they are use to poor service. They don’t realize coming to a home they need to be caring, professional, honesty and have integrity!!!
I would not hire them if they paid me. When I see or here advertisement I shake my head. Think about it what Hospice company advertise??? The ones without referrals (POOR SERVICE).
I wish I could give this company negative stars. I learn a lot hiring this bad a Hospice company the best day I and my loved one had was firing you. It it doesn’t seem right it’s not! I’m hearing over billing the government is catching up with companies like yours. A special place for people like you it’s called H E L L.
Do not use them… just ask them for references and watch how they act.

NOTE: this hospice was FIRED by the patients primary care physician.
He found her a new hospice which made me realize how poor their service truly was
.I first called Vitas Hospice, without doing much research on how hospice operates. After a very short time, it was becoming evident that something wasn’t right. Communication between the staff, the patient, and the family was deplorable. Phone calls were never returned, and it was impossible to reach someone without a customer service loop. Bullet points:
–Phone calls not returned to advocate for up to 36 hours.
–Subject of phone calls not communicated within network.
–Methadone administered to patient w/​o communication to advocate.
–Oxygen tank delivered without clear instructions for use give, nor contacting advocate.
I kept (and stored) a list of notes on whom I was speaking with, and when finally climbing the circular ladder of miscommunication, was NEVER EVEN RETURNED A PHONE CALL from the «head honchos».
When I finally made it through as high up the ladder i could go, after much explanation and demonstration I, finally got VITAS to ADMIT THEIR SERVICE WAS POOR.“
Two days later her Primary care physician had her switched to a different service.
The true tragedy in this case is that I wasn’t aware that you must research your hospice, and find out if they can actually provide adequate care. After learning from calling the CANCER CARE ALLIANCE did I realize I made a horrible mistake.
They told me what questions to ask, what was acceptable and what wasn’t. The phone operator was even surprised at what they had gotten away with. I should have done my research. Because i did not, someone who needed care was given undue stress rather than care, at the worst time of their lives.
— I am Disgusted and regretful.
Please lean from CCA how hospice operates before approaching VITAS.

I was very disappointed with Vitas Hospice care for my dad. It started out with a nurse giving me false information concerning some meds he was taking. The nurse did not come when she sad she would and did not have a complete care bag with meds my dad needed at the end. On the last day of his life, a nurse was supposed to come to the house by 9:00. BY 10:00 we called her to see when she was coming. She informed us that her doctor had put her on bed rest as she was pregnant. That was fine, but she did not call us to let us know, nor did she get someone to take her place. My dad was having some agitation, but there was no one to help us in his final hours! Horrible service!!! I would never recommend this company to anyone.

I wish I could give them 10 stars. We were referred to Vitas through my mother’s oncologist. From the first visit to the final day, the staff was incredible. My mother called her two nurses «my angels» and I can never thank them enough.

stay away from this Vitas Innovative Hospice care is not a caring place… from the owner till all the staff. are all very rude. didnt care much about the patients. keep you hanging for 12 hours. no return calls. All the staff has no manner, nurses are too lazy to care the patients. Please stay away from this Vitas Hospice. worst organizations. i hope they audit them and see what really going on in the office… most patients are not appropriate for what i heard… worst…

Like several people before, I am not having a good experience with this hospice either. Today, the nurse that was assigned to work with my aunt was upstairs — my husband and I went downstairs because my aunt was sleeping. We starting hearing a conversation, so I went upstairs to see if she was awake. Nope. It was the nurse dictating my aunts condition into a tape recorder while my aunt tried to sleep. At this point, my aunt is alert. She is also a very light sleeper. Very very insensitive people. We ask a lot of questions and each time are met with a lecture about what the principle is of hospice — basically, it isn’t to get better. The main nurse we have been assigned and the social worker have been the only bright spots (hence the 2 stars). The rest of the staff we’ve come in contact with are very inconsiderate and condescending.

Fabulous and caring hospice nurses at the end of my mother’s life. I would highly recommend for that part of Vitas service. I also loved their social worker, Adam, who was so truly amazing, helpful, and caring, and actually got things done for us. We also liked the visiting nurses that checked on my mom, and were available when we needed them. The downside of this service was that it was difficult to get a call back or information from the hospice doctor. I wished they had been more communicative with us during the long 1 ½ year process, but the final hands-​on kindness, care, & comfort of the nurses during the final few days made it all worth while, and gave us a peaceful end to our mother’s life.

Loved them! They give 24 hour care if needed, fed exes all the meds to my doorstep over night… Even had a Buddhist chaplain

I understand hospice isn’t about making the patient get better, but that surely doesn’t mean that VITAS can blatantly abandon patients to their demise. This is my experience. Elderly patient fell and became unconscious overnight. Called VITAS, nurse on call advised she was with a patient, would be at the house within the hour. One hour later, called the nurse to ask where she was, this time nurse on call said she was in San Diego (we live in Los Angeles). It was a 3 day weekend, I wonder what the nurse on call was doing in SD? In a panic, with VITAS no where in sight, and having no other resource, I called 911 and patient was transported to the hospital. Later, while patient was still in the hospital, VITAS has the gall to call to inform they are kicking us out of hospice because we should not have called 911. Apparently, I was supposed to let the patient lie on the ground unconscious for hours until VITAS decided to show up. VITAS denied everything afterwards. I understand that patients are expected to die while in hospice, but certainly not BECAUSE of the hospice’s neglect. Completely irresponsible and unreliable. We changed hospice providers immediately after this experience. Do not use VITAS if you care about your family.

Vitas hospice was one of several names given to us by Mom’s oncologist.
Quite disappointing. The intake nurse was very friendly, pretty brochures, reassuring, etc. The reality was horrible.
Reality was — Flaky case nurse. Showed up and spent more time flitting around the house then checking up on Mom. Case nurse was very hard to find and just told us to ‘call my secretary’. When the home aide did not show up, the case nurse had no idea about this and instead of fixing it, had all sorts of excuses such as — we didn’t think you needed that. Social worker finally was brought in after I complained to the case nurse. Unexcusable flakiness.
Mom ended up w/​some strange bedsore burns and the nurse had no idea. We switched her off of this bad hospice and i wish I had done so quicker.
Now with the new hospice — it is demonstrably better — Mom is at Asian Health Network up in N. Cal instead and here we have dedicated nurse coverage, home health aide, homemaker, social worker — and they all care. They call before the arrive. And they actually remember things, and are very diligent about follow-​up. So much better than Vitas.