The main objective of hospice and palliative care is pain and symptom relief, however, the prognosis and goals of care tend to be different. Both types of care aim to "palliate" symptoms that cause discomfort. Our Hospice vs. Palliative Care support is available 24/7 for you.
What Is Palliative Care?
Palliative care is an approach that improves patients' quality of life and their families who face problems related to life-threatening illnesses. It prevents and alleviates suffering by early detection, proper assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, whether physical, psychosocial or spiritual. Palliative care uses a team approach to support patients and their carers. This includes addressing practical needs and advising on loss losses. We offer a support system that helps patients live as actively as possible until death. Take a look at our hospice and palliative care services when you are ready.
Who can benefit from palliative care?
Palliative care is needed for a wide range of diseases. The majority of adults in need of palliative care have chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease, AIDS, and diabetes. Many other conditions may require palliative care, including renal failure, chronic liver disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, neurological diseases, dementia, congenital anomalies, and drug-resistant tuberculosis.
Pain and difficulty breathing are the two most common and serious symptoms faced by patients in need of palliative care. For example, 80% of patients with AIDS or cancer and 67% of patients with cardiovascular disease or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease will experience moderate or severe pain at the end of their lives. Opioids are needed to relieve pain.
Who is in a palliative care team?
The palliative care team consists of several different professionals who work with the patient, their family, and other physicians of the patient to provide medical, social, emotional, and practical support. Our team consists of palliative care specialists and nurses, including social workers, nutritionists, and chaplains. A person's team can change depending on their needs and level of care.
What Is Hospice Care?
Hospice care is a special type of care that focuses on the quality of life of people and their carers who are experiencing a progressive life-limiting illness. Hospice care provides compassionate help to people in the final stages of an incurable disease so that they can live as fully and comfortably as possible.
The philosophy of the hospice perceives death as the last stage of life: it affirms life but does not try to hasten or postpone death. Hospice care treats the person and the symptoms of the disease, not the disease itself. A team of professionals works together to overcome the symptoms so that a person's last days can be spent with dignity and quality in the company of their loved ones. Hospice care is also family-oriented - it involves the patient and the family in decision-making.
When to start hospice care?
Hospice care is used when a disease, such as advanced cancer reaches a level where treatment can no longer cure or control it. In general, hospice care should be used when a person is expected to live for about 6 months or less if the disease is normal. People with advanced cancer should discuss it with their family members and the doctor to decide together when to start hospice treatment.
Research shows that hospice care often doesn't start fast enough. Sometimes a doctor, patient, or family member will resist hospice because they think it means "giving up" or no hope. It is important to know that you can leave the hospice and start active cancer treatment at any time. But the hope that hospice brings is a quality of life that makes every day the best in the later stages of the disease.
Home care and inpatient care in the hospice
Although most hospice services are concentrated at home, you may sometimes need to be in a hospital, emergency room, or inpatient hospice. Our home hospice team can arrange inpatient care and will continue to care for you and your family. You can return to home care when you and your family are ready.
What are the benefits of hospice care?
Families of people who have received hospice assistance are more satisfied with the final assistance than those who did not have hospice services. In addition, hospice recipients are more likely to have their pain controlled and less likely to be screened or given unnecessary medications than people who do not use the hospice.
Some similarities and differences between palliative and hospice care
Palliative Care:
Anyone with a serious illness seeking symptom management and an improved quality of life qualifies for palliative care. The treatment focuses on relieving symptoms associated with chronic disease through a carefully constructed medical and holistic regimen. Palliative care allows patients to continue curative treatments, as it does not limit those options. The length of care depends on the patient's fluctuating needs, insurance coverage, and whether more advanced care like hospice becomes necessary. It continues as long as needed or until symptoms can be easily managed by the patient.
Hospice Care:
Hospice care is designed for those diagnosed with a terminal illness and focuses on improving the quality of life through symptom management. Once a disease is diagnosed as terminal, curative treatments are typically stopped as they no longer have a meaningful impact and may increase the symptom burden. A tailored plan is created with the hospice team to minimize symptoms and enhance comfort. Hospice care is generally available for patients with a terminal diagnosis of 6 months or less, but it can extend beyond this period if the patient continues to show evidence of decline. If symptoms improve, patients may transition to palliative or home health services.
Palliative care visits can often be billed to your insurance, as long as the home-visiting physician accepts your plan. Our staff will verify this before admission. Hospice care is a recognized benefit of Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance companies.
Understanding Palliative Care
So what is palliative care exactly? Think of it as extra medical support focused on making you feel better while doctors treat your illness. The palliative care meaning isn't about giving up - quite the opposite. This care runs alongside your regular treatments to tackle pain, nausea, depression, and other problems that come with being sick.
Here's what makes palliative care different from regular doctor visits. Your oncologist focuses on shrinking tumors. Your palliative care doctor focuses on whether you can sleep at night or eat dinner without throwing up. Both matter tremendously, but they solve different problems.
The palliative care squad includes various people:
- Doctors who know tons about pain management and symptom control
- Nurses trained in comfort techniques most regular nurses never learn
- Social workers who help families navigate insurance headaches and find resources
- Chaplains for spiritual support (any faith or no faith welcome)
- Therapists who help maintain physical abilities and daily living skills
Lots of illnesses benefit from this extra layer of support. Cancer patients dealing with chemo side effects. Heart failure patients struggling to breathe. COPD patients exhausted from constant coughing. Dementia families watching their loved one fade. The list goes on.
Age doesn't matter for palliative care. Kids with serious conditions get it. Young adults with chronic diseases get it. Seniors managing multiple health problems get it. The care adapts as situations change, sometimes lasting months or years depending on how illness progresses.
Studies keep showing people getting palliative care feel better, stay out of hospitals more, and often live longer than those without this support. The relief from symptoms lets people focus energy on healing rather than suffering.
Demystifying Hospice Care
Hospice care serves people approaching death, usually when doctors estimate six months or less if the disease continues its expected path. Medicare created this timeframe, which determines who qualifies nationwide.
The hospice philosophy abandons cure-focused treatments completely. Instead of trying experimental drugs or aggressive procedures, hospice teams concentrate on keeping people comfortable and helping families prepare for death. This shift feels scary at first but often brings tremendous relief to exhausted patients and families.
Hospice happens wherever you call home. Most people choose their own house with family helping between professional visits. Some go to hospice houses designed specifically for end-of-life care. Others receive hospice in nursing homes or hospitals when symptoms get too complicated for home management.
Hospice workers include similar professionals as palliative teams but with death preparation as their main goal. Doctors prescribe comfort medications only. Nurses specialize in end-of-life symptoms. Social workers help with funeral planning and grief counseling. Volunteers provide friendship and give worn-out caregivers breaks.
Don't believe the myths floating around about hospice. People worry it hastens death or kills hope. Research proves otherwise. Hospice patients often experience less pain and sometimes live longer than those receiving intensive treatments. The difference comes from switching goals - instead of fighting death, hospice helps people live their remaining time as fully as possible.
Key Differences Side-by-Side
The difference between palliative care and hospice shows up clearly when you compare how they actually work. Both want you comfortable, but they serve completely different stages of illness.
When Each One Starts Palliative care can begin the day you get diagnosed with something serious. Cancer, heart disease, kidney failure - doesn't matter. You might get palliative support for years while trying various treatments. Hospice only accepts people with terminal diagnoses when two doctors agree death will likely happen within six months.
What Happens to Your Other Treatments Palliative care works with whatever else your doctors prescribe. Getting chemo? Palliative care helps manage side effects. Having surgery? They help with recovery. Hospice stops all treatments aimed at cure. No more chemo, radiation, or procedures trying to fix the underlying disease.
How You Get Approved Any doctor can refer you for palliative care if you have a serious illness affecting your quality of life. No special paperwork or prognosis requirements. Hospice requires official certification from physicians stating you're terminal, plus you must formally agree to stop curative treatments.
Take someone with lung cancer as an example. Stage 3 diagnosis might trigger palliative care referral to help with breathing problems and anxiety while continuing chemotherapy. Months later, if chemo stops working and cancer spreads, the same person might transition to hospice for comfort care during final weeks.
People move between these services regularly as health situations change. Some graduate from hospice when they improve beyond the six-month estimate. Others switch back and forth as conditions fluctuate.
Key Takeaways
- Timing splits them apart: Palliative care begins at diagnosis; hospice starts when doctors say roughly 6 months left
- Treatment goals flip completely: Palliative care pairs with treatments trying to cure; hospice drops cure attempts entirely
- Getting in works differently: Palliative care has loose requirements; hospice needs official terminal diagnosis paperwork
- Time frames vary wildly: Palliative care might run for years; hospice covers final months only
- Medicare handles each uniquely: Both get Medicare money but through separate programs with different rules
