Understanding Palliative Care What is Palliative Care?
Palliative care can be provided during all phases of a serious or chronic illness. It can help patients feel better and improve their quality of life - even while they are undergoing curative therapies.
In contrast, hospice care utilizes the principles of palliative medicine to treat patients once curative measures are no longer effective or have ended.
Its about quality of life.
Palliative care is not end-of-life care. Palliative care significantly improves comfort and quality of life during a chronic or advanced illness. It aligns medical care with what matters most to you or your loved one: not giving up.
Hospice of the Piedmont’s palliative care program, Care Connection, is a compassionate approach to palliative care. We have improved the quality of life for thousands of patients and their families, and we can do that for you.
Care Connection
Living and coping with a chronic or advanced illness can be overwhelming. Often, those with chronic or advanced illness receive medical care from many different medical providers. Coordinating all of the necessary healthcare resources can be complicated and confusing.
Care Connection can help you understand your health care options better, manage your healthcare condition more effectively, and reduce the stress of coping with chronic or advanced illness.
These services are provided in coordination with facility staff and a Care Connection medical provider.
Palliative Care vs. Hospice
Are palliative care and hospice the same thing?
No. They share a philosophy, but they are not the same. Understanding the distinction can meaningfully affect decisions for patients and families facing serious illness.
What do palliative care and hospice care have in common?
Both palliative care and hospice focus on comfort, quality of life, and relief from symptoms. They address physical pain, emotional stress, and the burdens of living with serious illness while considering the whole person—not just the disease.
Where they differ is timing, goals of treatment, and eligibility.
What is palliative care?
Palliative care is specialized medical care for people living with serious illnesses such as cancer, heart failure, COPD, kidney disease, or dementia.
It can be provided at any stage of illness and alongside curative or life-prolonging treatment—for short periods or for years.
Examples:
- A person receiving chemotherapy also receives help managing nausea and pain.
- A patient with advanced heart disease continues aggressive cardiac treatment while receiving symptom support.
- Someone newly diagnosed with a neurological condition receives guidance managing symptoms and planning ahead.
Palliative care is not based on prognosis. It is based on need—especially symptom management, care coordination, and clarifying health goals. It may be delivered in hospitals, outpatient clinics, long-term care communities, or sometimes at home.
What is hospice?
Hospice takes the principles of palliative care and adds a comprehensive interdisciplinary team— nurses, social workers, nurse aides, chaplains, and volunteers—along with a medical benefit designed to reduce burden on families.
Under the Medicare Hospice Benefit, hospice typically covers medications, equipment, supplies, and professional support related to the terminal diagnosis with little to no out-of-pocket cost.
What is eligibility for hospice?
A patient must:
- Have a life-limiting illness
- Have a physician-estimated prognosis of six months or less if the disease follows its normal course
- Have care goals focused on comfort care instead of curative treatment.
Does hospice mean giving up?
No. Hospice shifts the goal from curing disease to maximizing comfort, dignity, and quality of life. Care is usually provided in the patient’s home, but can also occur in nursing facilities, assisted living, or inpatient hospice facilities when symptoms require more intensive management.
Is six months the limit for care?
No. Patients may continue hospice as long as they meet eligibility criteria.
How do palliative care and hospice relate?
Hospice is a subset of palliative care.
- All hospice is palliative care.
- Not all palliative care is hospice.
Palliative care can begin at diagnosis and continue for years. Hospice care can begin when care goals shift fully to comfort and the illness meets hospice eligibility criteria
Why the confusion?
Many people assume “palliative care” means end-of-life care. This misunderstanding often delays referrals that could improve comfort much earlier in illness. Early palliative involvement has been shown to:
- Improve symptom control
- Reduce hospitalizations
- Increase patient and family satisfaction
- Sometimes extend life
Hospice is also often started too late—sometimes only days before death. Studies suggest patients who receive hospice may live, on average, about 25% longer than similar patients who do not.
What questions should families ask?
When facing serious illness, helpful questions include:
- Would palliative care help manage symptoms or coordinate care?
- What are our goals—cure, stability, comfort, or some combination?
- If treatments stop working, when would hospice be appropriate?
- What support would improve quality of life right now?
These are difficult conversations— but important ones. Having them helps ensure care reflects what matters most to each person.
How can I learn more?
Our team is here for you — ready to listen, offer support, and talk through palliative care or hospice. Call us at 336-889-8446.