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Hospice Care vs. Palliative Care

Hospice care and Palliative care are treatment services provided to patients with serious illnesses.  Their purpose is to provide medical care in a way that is comforting to the patient and they are designed to alleviate the patient’s discomfort.  Hospice care and Palliative care are both services that can be provided in a number of settings for the patient, depending on the patient’s preference.  These can include a hospital, nursing home, assisted living residence or a home.  These two types of patient care can be used before and/or after one another, depending on the patient’s illnesses and progression of their symptoms.  Both forms of treatment also include a comprehensive team of healthcare providers who work together to look after a patient’s life.  However, there are several main differences that separate these two from one another.  Here are the definitions of each patient care and their unique differences.
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Hospice Care is provided to patients who are terminally ill and those patients are only expected to live for a short period of time.

  • No treatment is provided, only care to relieve symptoms
  • Covered by Medicare

 
Palliative care is provided to patients who are also terminally ill but are hoping for a cure. Palliative care is provided during a patient’s treatment.

  • You can receive medical treatment to work on curing illness
  • Insurance coverage may be unique to an individual’s healthcare plan

 
As with any end of life care, it is important to speak with your loved ones about their preferences and to educate patients you may be working with on their options.  Information from this posting was sourced from the National Institute on Aging.  The National Institute on Aging also provides many additional resources on Hospice Care and Palliative care.  Click here to check out the source: https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/what-are-palliative-care-and-hospice-care

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