LOCAL COVERAGE DETERMINATIONS (LCD) DESCRIPTIONS
Medicare coverage of hospice care depends upon a physician's certification of an individual's prognosis of a life expectancy of six months or less if the terminal illness runs it normal course.  Recognizing that determination of life expectancy during the course of a terminal illnes is difficult, Medicare's intermediary has established medical criteria for determining prognosis in each of the following non-cancer diagnoses.

• Adult Failure to Thrive Syndrome


• Amyotrophic Lateral Aclerosis (ALS)
  


• Alzheimer's Disease


• Cardiopulmonary Conditions


• Dementia


• Heart Disease


• HIV


• Liver Disease


• Pulmonary Disease


• Renal Disease


• Stroke or Coma