What is a hospice?

Hospice care: Hospice care focuses on relieving or preventing suffering rather than trying to treat the underlying medical problems of patients with terminal illnesses. Hospice care may involve many types of health care professionals and will focus not just on physical but also emotional and social aspects of end-of-life care.

Another dimension: In the us, 'hospice' also can be used to refer to the hospice medicare benefit--which provides a payment-per-day for patients who go on hospice. Thus patients who go on to the hospice medicare benefit have their care managed through the hospice. Many 3rd party insurance companies (but not all) follow this pattern.

Hospice services: All hospices deliver a similar set of services. They include nursing, assistance with caregivers on a limited basis, chaplaincy, bereavement counseling, social worker and physician care (medical director in many cases). You are covered for many services and this includes medications related to your terminal diagnosis. The hospice team is there to help you transition in the last phase of life.

End of life care.: Hospice is meant for those who seemingly at the end of life, although that end can still be many months away. The emphasis of hospice care is not trying to save the life, but to give comfort to the individual as their death approaches.