Palliative and Hospice Care

While the objective of both hospice and palliative care is pain and symptom relief, the prognosis and care goals tend to differ. Hospice is comfort care without curative intent; the patient no longer has curative options or has chosen not to pursue treatment because the side effects outweigh the benefits. Palliative care is comfort care with or without curative intent.

Hospice care is similar to palliative care, but there are important differences. Because more than 90 percent of hospice care is paid for through the Medicare hospice benefit, hospice patients must meet Medicare’s eligibility requirements; palliative care patients do not have to meet the same requirements.