PALLIATIVE

Palliative care frequently asked questions:

You probably have plenty of questions about palliative care. For instance - what is palliative care and who pays for it? When is palliative care appropriate? The goal of our palliative care program is not just to support the patient but also to answer any questions you may have.

Read our palliative care questions below to learn more.

Palliative care is a form of medical treatment that manages the pain, symptoms and side-effects of chronic illness. It is important to understand what palliative care is not – it is not hospice care. In fact, palliative services are very different from hospice care in that you can receive care while still pursuing a cure.

Palliative care is available at any stage of a serious illness and can be combined with aggressive treatments. The benefit of palliative care is that palliative experts can work with you to manage pain, symptoms and side-effects while your doctors focus on treatment. 

This is one of the most common palliative care questions. Palliative care is appropriate for any illness that causes long-term pain and discomfort and/or for a chronic condition that causes periodic symptoms. Some examples of common illnesses for which people seek palliative treatment include:

• Cancer
• Heart Disease/CHF
• Respiratory Disease/COPD
• Renal Disease/Failure
• HIV/AIDS
• Chronic Liver Disease
• Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
• Alzheimer’s Disease
• Stroke (CVA)
• Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) 

Some examples of common symptoms for which people seek palliative treatment include:

• Shortness of breath
• Nausea/vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Constipation
• Loss of appetite
• Fatigue
• Depression
• Delirium
• Difficulty sleeping
• Anxiety
• Emotional and/or spiritual distress

This is perhaps the most common palliative care question. The answer is no. Unlike hospice, palliative care is available to you at any stage of a serious illness. You can receive palliative care at the same time you receive treatment meant to cure your illness. Patients on hospice care receive palliative care (pain and symptom management). However, hospice care focuses on a person’s last months of life.

Another key difference is that hospice offers significantly more services than palliative care, and at no additional cost to the patients or their families. 

Palliative care entails prescribing medications and recommending therapies and resources to help patients get everything they need to deal with a chronic or life-limiting illness. The palliative care team typically consists of a palliative care physician, nurse practitioner and medical social worker.

Palliative care is often covered by Medicare, Medicaid and most private insurance. Every financial situation is different in regard to who pays for palliative care, so we recommend you contact your insurance company to find out about any possible copays or deductibles.