Under the Medicare Hospice Benefit, bereavement support for surviving family members is a required component of hospice care, not an optional add-on. Families are entitled to grief counseling, support groups, memorial services, and community referrals for at least 13 months following the death of their loved one.
This guide explains what hospice bereavement services include, how the process works, and what families in Burbank and Los Angeles County can expect from Journey Palliative and Hospice after a loss.
Hospice Care Doesn’t End When Your Loved One Dies
Most families don’t know this: the care relationship with your hospice provider legally continues after death.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) requires that Medicare-certified hospice programs provide bereavement services to surviving family members and caregivers following a patient’s death. This isn’t a courtesy; it’s a federal mandate, and it’s included in what your family has already paid for through the Medicare Hospice Benefit.
If no one from your hospice team has contacted you about bereavement support, that’s worth knowing, because you’re entitled to it.
Journey Palliative and Hospice’s bereavement services are available to every family we serve in Burbank and across Los Angeles County, beginning the moment your loved one passes and continuing through the months that follow.
What Hospice Bereavement Support Includes
Bereavement services vary between hospice providers, but the Medicare Hospice Benefit sets a minimum standard. At Journey Palliative and Hospice, that support includes:
- Grief counseling – individual sessions for adult family members, close friends, and children. Counseling provides a structured, confidential space to process loss at your own pace with a trained professional who understands the specific grief that follows a terminal illness.
- Patient grief counseling – grief doesn’t begin at death. The patient themselves often needs support processing their own sense of loss: the life they’d planned, the milestones they’ll miss, the relationships they’re leaving behind. Journey’s bereavement counselors are available to the patient during active hospice care as well as to the family after.
- Support groups – group settings where families share experiences with others navigating similar losses. Many people find that hearing “me too” from a stranger going through the same thing is more grounding than almost anything else.
- Memorial services – structured opportunities to gather and pay tribute to your loved one’s memory. These can be especially meaningful for families who didn’t hold a traditional service or who want an additional moment of community acknowledgment.
- Relaxation and therapeutic techniques – art therapy, relaxation methods, and other evidence-informed approaches that help manage the physical toll of grief. Grief is not purely emotional – it affects sleep, appetite, immune function, and cardiovascular health. Non-clinical tools matter.
- Spiritual counseling – available to practitioners of all faiths, and to those without a formal religious tradition. Journey’s team is multicultural and multilingual, and spiritual support is adapted to your family’s beliefs and background.
- Community referrals – when a family’s needs extend beyond what hospice bereavement services provide, Journey connects families with community resources: therapists, grief support organizations, cultural and faith-based programs, and mental health services in the Burbank and Los Angeles County area.
How Long Does Bereavement Support Last?
The Medicare Hospice Benefit requires hospice providers to offer bereavement services for at least 13 months after the patient’s death. This timeframe is not arbitrary – it covers the first full calendar year of grief, including all anniversaries, holidays, birthdays, and milestones that are especially difficult in that first year, plus a buffer month beyond it.
The 13-month period begins from the date of death, not the date of the last visit or the date the hospice closed the patient’s chart.
Who Is Covered by Hospice Bereavement Services?
Bereavement services are not limited to a spouse or primary caregiver. CMS defines the eligible population broadly to include immediate and extended family members, close friends, and others identified as part of the patient’s support network.
If a grandchild, a longtime neighbor, or a family friend was significantly involved in the patient’s care and is grieving the loss, they may be eligible to access bereavement support through the hospice. Talk to your Journey care coordinator to understand who can be included.
Grief After a Long Illness Is Its Own Kind of Loss
Families often assume that because they “knew it was coming,” they’ll be more prepared for grief after a prolonged illness. The research does not support that assumption.
Anticipatory grief – the grief that happens during the illness – does not replace the grief that comes after death. In many cases, families who devoted months or years to caregiving experience a compounded loss: the person they loved, the role that gave their days structure and purpose, and the version of themselves that existed before the illness began.
Caregiver grief also carries a particular weight. If you spent months managing medications, coordinating appointments, staying up through the night, and holding space for someone else’s fear and pain – your body and mind have been through something significant. Recovery from that experience deserves attention, not just the grief itself.
Journey’s in-home caregiving team works alongside families through the full arc of a loved one’s hospice stay, and the transition to bereavement services is designed to feel continuous – not like a door closing.
Bereavement Support for Families in Burbank and Los Angeles County
Journey Palliative and Hospice serves families across Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, the San Fernando Valley, and greater Los Angeles County. Our bereavement team is multicultural and multilingual, and services are available to families regardless of cultural or religious background.
All bereavement services for families of Journey patients are provided as part of the Medicare Hospice Benefit at no additional cost for covered services.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is hospice bereavement support free?
- For families of Medicare hospice patients, bereavement services are included under the Medicare Hospice Benefit at no additional cost for covered services. Coverage is administered through the hospice provider – you do not need to file separately or find an outside provider.
- How does Journey Palliative and Hospice reach out after a loved one passes?
- A bereavement coordinator from Journey will contact the family within a few days of death to introduce themselves, offer condolences, and begin the process of understanding what level of support the family wants. From there, outreach is customized – some families prefer regular check-ins, others want to initiate contact when they’re ready.
- Can children receive bereavement support through hospice?
- Yes. Journey’s bereavement services include counseling for children as well as adults. Children grieve differently than adults and often need age-appropriate support from someone trained to work with them. If a child in your family has lost a grandparent, parent, or other loved one, they are eligible for bereavement support through the hospice program.
- What happens if I need more support than hospice bereavement provides?
- Your bereavement counselor can refer you to community mental health resources, licensed therapists specializing in grief, and cultural or faith-based support programs in the Burbank and Los Angeles County area. There is no stigma in needing more – the hospice bereavement program is designed to recognize when that’s the right step and help you find it.
- Does bereavement support end after 13 months?
- The Medicare-required period for hospice bereavement services is 13 months from the date of death. After that point, formal hospice bereavement services through Journey conclude. If you still need support at or after the 13-month mark, your bereavement coordinator can connect you with community and clinical resources to continue that support.
Grief Deserves the Same Care as the Rest of the Journey
Your loved one’s comfort was the center of everything during hospice care. Your family’s well-being matters in the time that follows.
If you’re a current Journey Palliative and Hospice family and have questions about bereavement services, call us at (818) 748-3427. If you’re a family considering hospice for a loved one and want to understand the full picture of what support looks like – including what comes after – we’re here for that conversation too.
