National hospice programs

By providing its members with the essential tools they need to stay current with leading practices, understand policy changes, and improve their quality of care, NHPCO addresses the challenges that providers navigate on a daily basis and offers a wealth of expert knowledge and step-by-step solutions to fill the gaps.

Thousands of healthcare professionals and volunteers in the NHPCO community choose to dedicate themselves to caring for people with serious and life-limiting illnesses because they are skilled in offering compassion and support, are called to serve the whole person, and believe in care without barriers.

NHPCO champions these shared values and advances the mission-driven, person-centered and community-oriented model that its members use. By continually demonstrating how this integrated model works and improving on its efficacy, NHPCO positions the field of hospice and palliative care to serve as a beacon for other areas of medicine and caregiving. Mission — To lead and mobilize social change for improved care at the end of life.

If you or a relative has a terminal illness and you've exhausted all treatment options, you might consider hospice care. Find out how hospice care works and how it can provide comfort and support.

Hospice care is for people who are nearing the end of life. The services are provided by a team of health care professionals who maximize comfort for a person who is terminally ill by reducing pain and addressing physical, psychological, social and spiritual needs.

To help families, hospice care also provides counseling, respite care and practical support. Unlike other medical care, the focus of hospice care isn't to cure the underlying disease. The goal is to support the highest quality of life possible for whatever time remains. Hospice care is for a terminally ill person who's expected to have six months or less to live.

But hospice care can be provided for as long as the person's doctor and hospice care team certify that the condition remains life-limiting. Many people who receive hospice care have cancer, while others have heart disease, dementia, kidney failure or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Enrolling in hospice care early helps you live better and live longer. Hospice care decreases the burden on family, decreases the family's likelihood of having a complicated grief and prepares family members for their loved one's death. Hospice also allows a patient to be cared for at a facility for a period of time, not because the patient needs it, but because the family caregiver needs a break.

This is known as respite care. Most hospice care is provided at home — with a family member typically serving as the primary caregiver. However, hospice care is also available at hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living facilities and dedicated hospice facilities. No matter where hospice care is provided, sometimes it's necessary to be admitted to a hospital. For instance, if a symptom can't be managed by the hospice care team in a home setting, a hospital stay might be needed.

If you're not receiving hospice care at a dedicated facility, hospice staff will make regular visits to your home or other setting. Hospice staff is on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Medicare, Medicaid, the Department of Veterans Affairs and private insurance typically pay for hospice care.

Health insurance providers can answer questions about what they will cover. Visit the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization website to find palliative care near you. In palliative care, a person does not have to give up treatment that might cure a serious illness. Palliative care can be provided along with curative treatment and may begin at the time of diagnosis.

Over time, if the doctor or the palliative care team believes ongoing treatment is no longer helping, there are two possibilities. Palliative care could transition to hospice care if the doctor believes the person is likely to die within six months see What does the hospice six-month requirement mean? Or, the palliative care team could continue to help with increasing emphasis on comfort care. Increasingly, people are choosing hospice care at the end of life.

Hospice care focuses on the care, comfort, and quality of life of a person with a serious illness who is approaching the end of life. At some point, it may not be possible to cure a serious illness, or a patient may choose not to undergo certain treatments. Hospice is designed for this situation. The patient beginning hospice care understands that his or her illness is not responding to medical attempts to cure it or to slow the disease's progress.

Like palliative care, hospice provides comprehensive comfort care as well as support for the family, but, in hospice, attempts to cure the person's illness are stopped. Hospice is provided for a person with a terminal illness whose doctor believes he or she has six months or less to live if the illness runs its natural course.

It's important for a patient to discuss hospice care options with their doctor. Sometimes, people don't begin hospice care soon enough to take full advantage of the help it offers. Perhaps they wait too long to begin hospice and they are too close to death. Or, some people are not eligible for hospice care soon enough to receive its full benefit.

Starting hospice early may be able to provide months of meaningful care and quality time with loved ones. Hospice is an approach to care, so it is not tied to a specific place. It can be offered in two types of settings — at home or in a facility such as a nursing home, hospital, or even in a separate hospice center.

Read more about where end-of-life care can be provided. Hospice care brings together a team of people with special skills — among them nurses, doctors, social workers, spiritual advisors, and trained volunteers. A member of the hospice team visits regularly, and someone is usually always available by phone — 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Hospice may be covered by Medicare and other insurance companies. It is important to remember that stopping treatment aimed at curing an illness does not mean discontinuing all treatment.

A good example is an older person with cancer. If the doctor determines that the cancer is not responding to chemotherapy and the patient chooses to enter into hospice care, then the chemotherapy will stop.