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What Is Palliative Care?
Palliative care helps people feel better by addressing the physical, emotional and spiritual problems that may arise with a serious illness. It can also reduce or eliminate the side effects from treatment.
Palliative care is a team effort by doctors, medical caregivers, patients and families to bring relief from the pain, symptoms and stress of a serious illness. Our first step in palliative care is listening to you and your doctor to fully understand your goals for care.
Patients can receive palliative care while working with their medical team to manage or cure their illness. Medicare, Medicaid and most private insurances include palliative care benefits, if the patient meets criteria.
Effective palliative care starts with a conversation about the patient's goals and wishes. For example, people experience pain differently. Listening throughout the palliative care journey ensures our team manages pain and side effects to a level acceptable to the patient and their family.
While receiving palliative care, patients can remain under the care of their regular doctor to receive treatment to cure their disease. We've created a table to help you understand the difference between hospice and palliative care?
Hospice Care
Eligibility -Because of Medicare requirements, hospice is typically for patients with a life expectancy of six months or less. A patient's doctor and a hospice medical director work together to determine life expectancy.
Goal of care - Patients in hospice are not seeking a cure for their illness. Their goal is managing pain and other symptoms to improve quality of life with the time they have remaining.
Why patients choose hospice - Patients sometimes decide they no longer want to go through painful or difficult treatments that may not improve or extend their life.
Palliative Care
Eligibility - Palliative care is for people at any stage in their illness. The illness does not have to be life-threatening. Like hospice, palliative care addresses a patient's physical, mental, social, and spiritual needs.
Goal of care
Palliative care patients can seek treatment to cure their illness or prolong life while getting medical help to manage their pain and other symptoms.
Why patients choose palliative care - Patients are commonly seeking relief from pain, fatigue, nausea or the stress that comes with a serious illness or the side effects from medical treatment.
Referrals to palliative care are most common from these conditions:
• Cancer
• Heart disease
• COPD and other lung diseases
• Kidney failure
• Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia
• ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis)
• HIV/AIDS
Who Needs Palliative Care
Palliative Care treats people suffering from serious and chronic illnesses.
Palliative Care focuses on symptoms such as pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, constipation, nausea, loss of appetite, difficulty sleeping and depression. It also helps you gain the strength to carry on with daily life. It improves your ability to tolerate medical treatments.
Benefits Of Palliative Care
The benefits of receiving palliative care services are many, including:
• Services provided in an outpatient setting, such as the patient’s home, long-term care facility or assisted living facility
• Expert monitoring and treatment of pain and symptoms
• Helping you have more control over your care by improving your understanding of your choices for treatment.
• Close communication and coordination with all your care providers
• Caregiver support with education and community resources
• Helping to reduce or eliminate unwanted hospital visits
Covered Services
What Services Does Ascove Home Health Palliative Care Include?
• The initial consultation and evaluation
• Ascove Home Health medical team plan of care based on your needs and goals
• Pain and symptom management by the experts on your team
• Support for the life stresses that surround serious illness
• Communication with your doctor
• Palliative care may be provided in addition to home health services
Contact us at (919) 948-6565 24-hours a day, 7-days a week. We're here to listen and help you find the right care. Our experience can also help you navigate referrals, including Medicare and insurance issues.
