Palliative Care at Home

Palliative Care at Home is a medical specialty, focused on serious illness management. Palliative Care at Home provides comprehensive, interdisciplinary care for patients, with serious illnesses, and their families with emphasis upon the quality of life and goals of care. Palliative Care at Home is provided throughout the trajectory of a disease process without regard to prognosis and can be provided in concert with curative care, as well as near end of life. The Palliative Care at Home team works with patients, and their families, in conjunction with their primary care provider to address the physical, psychosocial, emotional or spiritual issues the patient may experience with their serious illness.

Goals and Criteria

The goals of Palliative Care at Home focus on the patient and their family (caregivers / support network) including:

• The patient's needs assessment
• The patient's serious illness symptom management
• The patient's goals of care planning
• The patient's health crisis aversion plan
• Handling intensive patient-family communication regarding the patient's condition, goals of care and treatment options presented by their provider (primary care provider and / or specialist)
• Supporting the patients' plan of care related to their serious illness while optimizing the patient and family's self-management capability.

Palliative Care at Home Admission:

• The patient has a serious illness which is a complex, life-limiting condition and will benefit from coordinated serious illness management by a palliative care interdisciplinary team across care settings
• The patient would benefit from serious illness symptom management such as shortness of breath, fluid retention, swelling, nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite, fatigue/weakness, discomfort, anxiety, depression, and difficulty coping, among others
• The patient would benefit from comprehensive serious illness needs assessment, goals of care planning (including completing durable power of attorney for healthcare and IPOST/POLST documents), and health crisis aversion planning
• The patient would benefit from serious illness case management at home to ensure that the level of services they receive meets their care needs, such as home health care or hospice

Frequently Asked Questions

Who benefits from Palliative Care at Home?
People living with cancer, congestive heart failure, kidney disease, COPD, ALS and other serious illness. Also, individuals who feel their quality of life has been compromised by a serious illness.

Does referral for Palliative Care at Home mean I am dying?

Being referred for a Palliative Care consultation does mean that you are dealing with difficult medical problems - ones that cause symptoms to suddenly worsen, create discomfort, emotional uncertainty and personal complications for you and your loved ones.

Do I need to stop curative or life-prolonging care to receive Palliative Care?

No. The Palliative Care team works in partnership with your primary care provider and/or specialist in obtaining the best possible outcome for your serious illness care. We're eager to meet with you and your family to learn what matters most and how we can help as you identify and communicate your personal goals for your serious illness medical care.

Who pays for Palliative Care?

Medicare Part B covers 80 percent of the allowed billing of Palliative Care. If you have a Medicare supplement, it will typically cover the remaining 20 percent. Most private insurances will cover the allowed billing of Palliative Care