Article by Gwen Jones, Department of Family Services
(Posted 2026 November)
November is National Hospice and Palliative Care Month, a timely reminder to raise awareness about these types of healthcare and thank the people who provide this vital service in our community. If you or a loved one is living with a serious illness, you may already know about these types of care and understand the differences between the two, but many people only learn about them after a life-changing diagnosis.
What is Palliative Care?
Palliative care is a type of healthcare for people living with serious illnesses. The focus is on improving quality of life by helping people manage their symptoms, understand their treatment options, and receive care that aligns with their values. Palliative care can be provided along with medical care intended to cure an illness and is available at any stage of a serious illness. Unlike hospice care, a patient doesn’t have to be near the end of their life or have a terminal diagnosis to receive palliative care.
Palliative care is provided by a team that works alongside the patient’s other healthcare providers. Teams may include physicians, nurses, social workers, chaplains, pharmacists, and therapists. The care this team offers often includes:
- Managing pain and other symptoms of the patient’s illness.
- Reducing stress related to illness.
- Helping patients understand their treatment options.
- Help with planning future healthcare decisions.
- Providing support for patients and their families.
Palliative care can be provided in the home, in a nursing home or assisted living facility, or in a healthcare facility, such as a hospital or doctor’s office.
The benefits of receiving palliative care include better pain and symptom management, improved quality of life, increased confidence in healthcare decisions, better coordination of care, and support for families and caregivers.
What is Hospice Care?
Hospice care is for someone with a terminal prognosis (about six months or less if the illness runs its normal course), who is no longer receiving curative treatment for their terminal illness. The focus is on comfort and quality of life, rather than curing their illness. Hospice professionals help their patients live comfortably by managing pain and symptoms while providing emotional, spiritual, and practical support to patients and their families.
Hospice care is provided by an agency through a full interdisciplinary team of professionals. Teams include a hospice physician, nurse case manager, aide, social worker, chaplain, bereavement counselor, and volunteers. Their care includes:
Managing pain and other symptoms of the patient’s illness.
- Providing nursing and medical care.
- Helping patients live comfortably at home.
- Offering emotional and spiritual support to patients, family members and caregivers.
- Providing medications, medical equipment, and supplies.
- Educating families about what to expect.
- Providing grief and bereavement support for loved ones.
Hospice care is provided wherever the patient lives. The benefits of receiving hospice care include better pain management, the ability to remain comfortably at home, reduced trips to the hospital, support for the patient, their family and loved ones, and improved quality of life.
While hospice offers many valuable services, hospice doesn’t include everything. Some limitations you should be aware of are:
- The day-to-day care of the patient, such as feeding, bathing, and toileting, is provided by family, friends, or paid home health aides, not hospice.
- Hospice provides medications and instructs caregivers in its use, but caregivers are responsible for administering it safely to the patient.
- The frequency of hospice visits can vary. Medicare requires a registered nurse to visit at least once every 14 days. However, Medicare certified hospices are required to have a 24-hour telephone line to answer questions and respond to crises.
- The cost for ongoing treatment or medications for health problems unrelated to the primary hospice diagnosis may not be covered by the hospice provider.
Additional Resources:
- When Is It Time for Hospice Care: What Caregivers Need to Know (video)
- Virginia Department of Health: Palliative Care
- National Institute on Aging: Providing Care and Comfort at the End of Life
- Hospice Foundation of America
- National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation
- CaringInfo by the National Alliance for Care at Home
This article is part of the Golden Gazette monthly newsletter which covers a variety of topics and community news concerning older adults and caregivers in Fairfax County. Are you new to the Golden Gazette? Don’t miss out on future newsletters! Subscribe to get the electronic or free printed version mailed to you. Have a suggestion for a topic? Share it in an email or call 703-324-GOLD (4653).