Palliative Care vs Hospice

Both Palliative Care and Hospice protocols call for patients to receive a combined approach in which medications, day-to-day care, equipment, breavement counseling and symptom treatment are administered through a single program. Where the programs differ is in the location, timing, payment and eligibility for services.

Place:

  1. Palliative Care: PC Teams are made up of doctors, nurses and other professional medical caregivers, sometimes at a facility where the patient is or a medical office. These individuals will administer or oversee most of the ongoing comfort care patients receive. While this care can be administered in the home, it is most common to receive care in hospital, nursing home or medical office that is associated with the Palliative Care team.
  2. Hospice Care: Once enrolled through a referral by the primary care physician, Hospice often relies on the family caregiver, as well as a visiting Hospice nurse. Hospice can also be provided in specially equipped Hospice facility, nursing home or in a hospital.

Timing:

  1. Palliative Care: There are no time restrictions. Palliative Care can be received by patients at any time, at any stage of illness whether it's terminal or not.
  2. Hospice Care: You must generally be considered to be terminal or within six months of death to be eligible for most hospice programs or to receive hospice benefits from your insurance.

Payment:

  1. Palliative Care: This service is generally covered by most insurance plans including Medicare. For more details, check with your insurance company.
  2. Hospice Care: Hospice is typically considered an all-inclusive treatment, but it's best to check with your insurance plan. Many hospice programs are covered under Medicare.

Treatment:

  1. Palliative Care: Since there are no time limits on when you can receive Palliative Care, it acts to fill the gap for patients who want and need comfort at any stage of any disease, In a Palliative Care program, there is no expectation that life-prolonging therapies will be avoided.
  2. Hospice Care: Most Hospice programs concentrate on comfort rather than curative therapies. By electing to forgo extensive life-prolonging treatment, hospice patients can concentrate on getting the most out of the time the have, without some of the negative side-effects that life prolonging treatments can have. Most hospice patients can achieve a level of comfort that allows them to concentrate on the emotional and practical issues of dying.