Hospice and Palliative Care: What's the Difference?
October 26, 2026 · Cancer Support, Cancer Information
"Palliative care" and "hospice" are often used as if they mean the same thing. They're closely related, since both focus on comfort and quality of life, but they're not the same. Knowing the difference can help people with serious illness get the right support at the right time, often much earlier than they realize.
What palliative care is
Palliative care is specialized medical care focused on relieving the symptoms, side effects and stress of a serious illness, for both the patient and the family. It can include help with pain, nausea, fatigue, shortness of breath, anxiety and depression, and with hard decisions about care.
The most important thing to know: palliative care can start at any stage of illness, including at diagnosis, and you can get it alongside treatment meant to cure or control the cancer. The National Cancer Institute notes that research shows starting palliative care early in advanced cancer can improve quality of life and mood.
Palliative care teams may include doctors, nurses, social workers, chaplains and others. It's offered in hospitals, outpatient clinics, and sometimes at home. Ask your oncologist for a referral.
What hospice is
Hospice is a type of palliative care for people near the end of life, generally those expected to live six months or less if the illness runs its usual course, who have decided to stop treatment aimed at curing their illness. The focus shifts fully to comfort and quality of life.
Hospice care is most often provided at home, but also in nursing homes, assisted living and hospice facilities. A hospice team of nurses, aides, doctors, social workers, chaplains and volunteers visits regularly, and someone is available by phone 24 hours a day. Hospice also supports the family, including bereavement support after a death.
The main differences
- Timing: palliative care can start at diagnosis; hospice is for the last months of life.
- Treatment: with palliative care, you can keep getting cancer treatment; with hospice, you stop treatment aimed at curing the illness, though you still get treatment for symptoms.
- Coverage: hospice has a defined Medicare benefit (below); palliative care is billed like other medical care and is usually covered by private insurance, with Medicare and Medicaid paying for some kinds.
How Medicare covers hospice
Medicare Part A covers hospice when your hospice doctor and your regular doctor (if you have one) certify that you're expected to live six months or less, and you choose comfort care instead of curative treatment. According to Medicare:
- You pay nothing for hospice services from a Medicare-approved hospice.
- You may pay a copay of up to $5 for each prescription for pain and symptom relief, and 5% of the Medicare-approved amount for inpatient respite care, which gives caregivers a short break.
- Hospice is provided in benefit periods: two 90-day periods, then an unlimited number of 60-day periods, as long as you continue to qualify.
- You can stop hospice at any time to resume curative treatment, and you can return to hospice later if you qualify.
- Room and board in a nursing home or other facility generally isn't covered by the hospice benefit.
Most private insurance plans and Medicaid also cover hospice. Hospice doesn't mean giving up; for many families it means more time at home and better control of symptoms.
Choosing a hospice
You usually have a choice of hospice providers. Medicare's Care Compare website shows quality measures and family survey ratings for Medicare-certified hospices. Our directory of hospice providers includes these Medicare ratings where we can match them, and you can search by ZIP code. Questions to ask:
- How quickly can care start?
- How often will nurses and aides visit, and who do we call at night or on weekends?
- What happens if symptoms can't be controlled at home? Do you offer inpatient care?
- What support do you offer caregivers, including respite care and bereavement support?
Starting the conversation
It can be hard to bring up palliative care or hospice, for patients and for families. It can help to ask the care team directly: "What can we expect in the coming months?" and "Would palliative care help now?" Talking about wishes early, and writing them down in an advance directive, gives people more control and spares families difficult guesses later. If you or someone you love is living with metastatic breast cancer, our guide to living with metastatic breast cancer may help. Families caring for someone at home can also find home health care providers in our directory.
The bottom line
Palliative care eases symptoms and stress at any stage of serious illness and can be given alongside cancer treatment. Hospice is palliative care for the last months of life, when curative treatment has stopped, and Medicare covers it with few out-of-pocket costs. Ask about palliative care early, and learn about hospice before you need it.
This article is for general information and is not medical advice. Talk with your doctor about your own situation.