On most hospice admission packets, the social worker and the chaplain get a line or two, and their visits are often shorter and less frequent than the nurse's. It is easy to file them under extras. Federal rules for hospice do not treat them that way. The hospice must have an interdisciplinary team, the plan of care is written by that team, and the social worker and the spiritual counselor are named among the services the hospice must make available. The rules describe what the team must provide. They do not tell you how often a particular agency will send the person, how quickly the phone will be answered, or whether the chaplain will come when you are the one who needs the visit. Those are the things you have to ask.
Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.
What to ask the social worker
Get the social worker's name and direct number, and ask whether that number is answered on weekends or only leads to a message. Ask how many visits are scheduled in the first two weeks and what would trigger an additional one. Ask what kind of paperwork help they give, and whether they fill out forms with you or only point you to where the forms are. Ask what they do when the family is worn down, and whether they keep a written list of local resources or work from memory. A written list can be checked. A memory cannot.
What to ask the chaplain
Ask whether the chaplain is on the agency's staff or is contracted, and whether that person can be reached after hours. Ask whether your parent can have a visit from a clergy member or lay leader of their own tradition, and who pays for that visit. Hospice spiritual counseling is a covered service, but a visit from an outside clergy member may not be, and you should know which one you are arranging before a hard night. Ask whether the chaplain will sit with your parent when your parent cannot speak or cannot respond, and what the chaplain will do with you at the bedside when you are the one who is struggling.
Put both on one sheet
Build a simple grid with one column for each hospice you are comparing. The rows should be the social worker's name and direct number, visits scheduled in the first two weeks, the after-hours route for each of the two roles, whether outside clergy visits are covered, and whether the visit schedule appears in the plan of care. Fill each cell from the agency's answer, not from the brochure. If an agency cannot answer a row, write that down. An empty cell is information.
Ask about the time after the death
Federal rules require the hospice to offer bereavement support to the family after a death. That is a requirement to offer, and it does not say what the support looks like. Ask whether it is a set schedule of calls, a group, a letter, or a phone line you call when you need it. Ask how long it lasts and who makes the contact. Ask for the answer in writing. You will not be sorting through the agency's paperwork in the week after a death, so it is worth settling now.
For the rules the hospice must follow on these services, the Sources page lists the federal and state references this site uses. Read the agency's own written plan of care alongside them, because the plan is what your parent will actually receive.