Answers to Common Questions Regarding Palliative Care

Q. What is palliative care?

A. Palliative care improves the quality of life of patients and their families with advanced illness or life-threatening injury. Palliative care prevents and relieves suffering through early identification, thorough assessment, and expert treatment of pain and other challenges: physical, psycho-social, and spiritual.

A palliative care program includes:

• The affirmation of life and regard for dying as a normal process
• The intent to neither hasten nor postpone death
• Care throughout the continuum of illness in conjunction with curative therapies
• Availability of interventions early in the course of illness to assist with symptom management or advance care planning
• The use of an interdisciplinary team approach to address the comprehensive needs of patients and families including: assessment and management of patient’s pain and other distressing symptoms; integration of the psychological and spiritual aspects of patient and family care; offering a support system to help patients live as fully as possible; and offering a support system to help the family cope during the patient’s illness and in their bereavement

Q. What is the difference between palliative care and hospice?

A. Palliative care is designed to reduce physical, psycho-social, and spiritual pain and suffering in individuals with advanced illness. Patients may still be pursuing curative therapies while receiving palliative care. Palliative care services may begin at the time of diagnosis and continue throughout the disease process. Hospice is a type of palliative care that is delivered during the last 6 months of life when the patient is no longer receiving curative treatments.

Q. Who pays for palliative care?

A. Unlike hospice care, Medicare does not pay for palliative care. Approximately 33% of the nation’s hospitals offer palliative care services. Palliative care services delivered by hospital teams may be reimbursed under their insurance policies as medical and nursing services. Additionally, Medicare will cover one palliative care consult with a hospice physician. Always check with your insurance company to determine which palliative care services, if any, are covered by your insurance policy.

Q. What is an advance directive?

A. An advance directive allows you to document your wishes regarding medical treatment and name the person you want to make healthcare decisions if you are unable to communicate your own medical decisions. Laws governing advance directives may vary from state to state. It’s important to execute your advance directives in accordance with the law in the state where you reside.

Q. What is the difference between advance directives and surrogate healthcare decision-making?

What is a living will? What’s the difference between a “medical durable power of attorney” and a “proxy healthcare decision-maker”? To address these questions, Jennifer Ballentine, co-chair of the Colorado Advance Directives Consortium, compiled an extremely informative and helpful document called the “Summary/Comparison of Advance Directives and Surrogate Health Care Decision Making Processes for Colorado.” Click to read this summary.