How do Hospice and Palliative Care Differ?

Compassionate care tailored to your needs

When it comes to managing serious illnesses, understanding the differences between hospice care and palliative care is crucial for patients and their families. Both approaches provide compassionate care to ease symptoms, but they differ in scope and the stage of illness at which they are applied.

Hospice Care:

• Covered by most Insurances
• Interdisciplinary Team
• RN Case Manager
• Pain Management
• Symptom Management
• 24/7 On-call Triage
• In-person Visits
• Medication Provided
• Medical Equipment Provided
• Oxygen Provided
• Volunteers
• Respite Care
• Continuous Care
• General Inpatient Care

Palliative Care:

• Curative Treatment
• Covered by most Insurances
• Interdisciplinary Team
• RN Case Manager
• Pain Management
• Symptom Management
• 24/7 On-call Triage
• In-person Visits

Key Differences

Curative Treatment: Palliative care can be provided alongside curative treatment, whereas hospice care is typically reserved for patients who are no longer seeking treatments to cure their illness and have a prognosis of six months or less to live, should the disease run its usual course.

Services: In addition to the services provided in palliative care, hospice care includes medication and volunteers and offers respite, continuous care, and general inpatient care.

Commonalities

Despite their differences, both hospice and palliative care focus on relieving pain and other distressing symptoms, providing support to patients and their families, and ensuring the best possible quality of life can be maintained.