The role of the nurse practitioner in hospice has expanded over the past several years, and the outcome has been an improvement in the overall quality of patient care. In this episode we sit down with hospice nurse practitioner Tiffany Hughes to learn more about the real life work of a hospice NP.   In 2011, the U.S. Medicare system began requiring that all hospice patients in the third or later hospice benefit period receive a face to face encounter with a hospice physician or nurse practitioner. This expanded the role of the NP in the hospice system.  Tiffany explains the many ways that the NP helps serve hospice patients and their families beyond the face to face encounter.   To learn more about hospice, professional and personal caregiving, self care, and advance care planning, visit The Heart of Hospice website.  Be sure and read our weekly blog for more information regarding hospice and end of life care.