A Dallas family's guide to hospice care in 2026 - how Faith Presbyterian Hospice, VITAS, and AccentCare compare, what Medicare and Texas Medicaid cover, and how to choose the right hospice team.
By Dallas Senior Advisor Care Team · July 16, 2026
Hospice care in Dallas shifts the goal from curing a terminal illness to managing pain, symptoms, and quality of life for a patient with a life-limiting diagnosis, typically once a physician certifies a prognosis of six months or less if the disease runs its normal course. In the Dallas-Fort Worth metro, three names come up most often when families start researching hospice: Faith Presbyterian Hospice, a Dallas-based nonprofit that has served the community since 1988 and is closely tied to local senior living and church networks; VITAS Healthcare, a national hospice company with a long-established Dallas-Fort Worth program; and AccentCare, a hospice and home health company headquartered in Dallas with deep local roots and a large footprint across North Texas. All three, along with smaller local and regional agencies, deliver care under the same Texas licensing and Medicare rules, but they differ in size, inpatient unit access, bereavement programs, and how quickly they can start care after a referral.
In Texas, hospices are licensed by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), Long-Term Care Regulation, under Texas Health & Safety Code Chapter 142, and most also carry Medicare certification, which is what actually triggers coverage under the Medicare Hospice Benefit. Hospice in Dallas is not tied to one building - the hospice team can deliver care wherever the patient lives, whether that is a private home in Lakewood or Lake Highlands, an assisted living or memory care community in Plano or Frisco, a nursing facility, or in some cases a dedicated inpatient hospice unit for short-term intensive symptom management.
For most Dallas seniors, hospice is paid for through the Medicare Hospice Benefit, which is available to anyone with Medicare Part A whose physician and the hospice medical director certify a terminal prognosis of six months or less. Once elected, the Medicare Hospice Benefit covers the interdisciplinary team (physician, nurse, hospice aide, social worker, chaplain), medications related to the terminal diagnosis, durable medical equipment like a hospital bed or wheelchair, and medical supplies - with little to no out-of-pocket cost to the patient. Medicare organizes hospice into four levels of care: routine home care (the most common), continuous home care during a crisis, general inpatient care for acute symptom control, and short-term respite care to give a family caregiver a break.
Texas Medicaid, delivered through STAR+PLUS managed care organizations such as Molina Healthcare, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan, Superior HealthPlan, and Aetna Better Health, also covers hospice for income- and asset-qualifying seniors, and dual-eligible patients (both Medicare and Medicaid) can use Medicaid to help cover room and board in a nursing facility while on hospice, which Medicare alone does not pay. Veterans served by the VA North Texas Health Care System, including the Dallas VA Medical Center, may also access VA hospice and palliative care benefits, sometimes coordinated jointly with a community hospice like Faith Presbyterian, VITAS, or AccentCare.
Faith Presbyterian Hospice is a nonprofit with a strong reputation among Dallas assisted living and memory care communities, a dedicated inpatient hospice unit in Dallas for patients whose symptoms need intensive short-term management, and grief and bereavement support that continues for a year or more after a death. Families who value a community-rooted, faith-friendly (though not faith-restricted) organization with deep relationships across Dallas County senior living often gravitate toward Faith Presbyterian first.
VITAS Healthcare operates one of the larger hospice programs in the Dallas-Fort Worth market, with 24/7 telephonic and in-person nursing support and the scale to respond quickly to same-day or next-day admission requests, which matters for a family managing a hospital discharge from UT Southwestern, Baylor University Medical Center, Texas Health Presbyterian Dallas, or Medical City Dallas. AccentCare, headquartered in Dallas, pairs hospice with a large home health division under one roof, which can simplify the transition for a patient moving from home health services into hospice as their condition changes. All three accept Medicare, most Texas Medicaid managed care plans, and VA hospice referrals; coverage area, current bed availability, and same-week intake capacity are worth confirming directly since they can shift month to month.
Most Dallas families wait too long to bring up hospice, often not until the final days or hours, when a hospice team that could have managed pain and eased the burden for weeks or months only has time to help with a crisis. Signs it is time to ask a physician about hospice include frequent hospitalizations or emergency room visits for the same underlying condition, a decline in appetite and weight that home care can no longer address, increasing difficulty managing pain or breathlessness at home, and a treating physician saying they would not be surprised if the patient died within the next six to twelve months. A referral can come from a primary care doctor, a hospitalist during a discharge from a Dallas hospital, an oncologist, or directly from the family - hospices in Dallas will send a nurse to do a free evaluation and explain eligibility even before a formal referral is finalized.
Once a patient elects hospice, the assigned interdisciplinary team - typically a registered nurse case manager, a hospice aide, a social worker, and a chaplain if the family wants one - visits on a schedule based on need, usually several times a week, with a 24/7 on-call nurse line for after-hours symptom crises. Families in an assisted living or memory care community in North Dallas, Frisco, or Plano should confirm the community allows hospice to come on-site (most do) and ask how the hospice team and the community's own caregiving staff will coordinate day-to-day care.
Because hospice quality varies even among Medicare-certified providers, it is worth comparing a short list before committing. Medicare's Care Compare website publishes hospice-specific quality measures pulled from the CAHPS Hospice Survey, including how promptly a hospice responded to pain, how well it communicated, and family-reported overall rating - all searchable by ZIP code for Dallas, Plano, Frisco, Arlington, and the rest of the metro. Accreditation from the Community Health Accreditation Partner (CHAP), the Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC), or the Joint Commission is another signal, since accredited hospices undergo regular independent quality reviews on top of state licensing.
Practical questions matter just as much as ratings: does the hospice have its own inpatient unit or does it contract with a hospital for general inpatient care, how quickly can a nurse respond to an after-hours crisis call, does the hospice serve the specific assisted living or memory care community where the patient lives, and what bereavement support is offered to the family afterward. Any complaint about a licensed Texas hospice - missed visits, unresponsive on-call staff, or a care-plan concern - can be filed with HHSC Long-Term Care Regulation, and Medicare-certified hospices are also subject to federal survey and complaint investigation.
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