Greenville Senior AdvisorWhat is the difference between hospice and palliative care?
Palliative care treats symptoms and stress of a serious illness at any stage and can be given alongside curative treatment, while hospice is comfort care for someone whose physician certifies a life expectancy of six months or less who chooses to stop treatment aimed at cure.
Palliative care is usually delivered by a hospital or clinic team and billed like other medical care. Hospice is a defined Medicare benefit that brings a team of nurse, aide, social worker, chaplain and volunteers to wherever the patient lives.
Where can hospice care happen in the Greenville area?
Hospice can care for a patient at home, in a CRCF, or in a nursing home, and for symptoms that cannot be managed there, in an inpatient hospice house; DPH's data shows 17 licensed hospice programs with offices in the four counties and 3 inpatient hospice houses: Bon Secours Hospice House by Compassus (Simpsonville, 30 beds), Callie & John Rainey Hospice House (Anderson, 22 beds), VIA Health Partners - Laurens County Hospice House (Clinton, 12 beds).
South Carolina's CRCF regulation allows residents to receive hospice in place when the combination of the facility's care and hospice meets their needs, so many Upstate assisted living residents never move at the end of life.
What does Medicare's hospice benefit pay for?
Medicare's hospice benefit covers the hospice team's visits, medications and medical equipment related to the terminal illness, short inpatient stays for symptom control and short respite stays, with little or no cost to the patient; it does not pay room and board in a facility.
Patients can leave hospice and return to curative treatment at any time, and can re-enroll later. A hospice can be changed once per benefit period.
How do I choose a hospice in the Upstate?
Ask how quickly the hospice responds to a call at night, how often nurses and aides visit, who covers weekends, whether it has its own inpatient unit or contracts with a hospice house, and what bereavement support it offers families.
Check the hospice's DPH license on the Find a Facility map; South Carolina licenses hospice programs by the counties they serve, and our home health and hospice roster shows that count. Medicare's Care Compare also publishes hospice family-survey results.
When should we ask about hospice?
Ask when treatment is no longer working or its burden outweighs its benefit, when hospital stays are becoming frequent, or when a parent says they want to focus on comfort; an informational visit from a hospice does not commit anyone to enrolling.
Many families say afterward that they wish they had called sooner, because hospice support works best over weeks or months rather than days. A physician's referral starts enrollment, but families can call a hospice directly to ask questions.
At a glance
| Hospice | Palliative care | |
|---|---|---|
| Who | Life expectancy of six months or less, if the illness runs its course | Anyone with a serious illness |
| Treatment | Comfort-focused; curative treatment stops | Alongside curative treatment |
| Payment | Medicare hospice benefit | Regular medical insurance |
| Where | Home, CRCF, nursing home or hospice house | Usually hospital or clinic |
Sources include S.C. Code Regs. 60-84, DPH Healthcare Quality and SCDHHS pages and bulletins, CareScout, CMS and VA rate tables as cited above; see our editorial standards.
