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Starr Hospice and Health Services > Services > Palliative Care

Palliative Care Services

Hope’s Palliative Care Program provides an extra layer of support to individuals who have chronic, life limiting illnesses. Palliative care is comfort-focused medical care that helps patients avoid hospitalization by managing their pain and symptoms at home. Palliative services are similar to those of hospice, but with a few important distinctions in terms of eligibility criteria. Click here to view our service area.

Hospice	Palliative Care
The underlying terminal medical condition(s) has a prognosis of six months or less.	The underlying terminal condition(s) has a longer-term prognosis.
Services are available 24 hours a day.	Services are available Monday–Friday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m.
The patient and family are ready to discontinue curative care efforts.	The patient may choose to continue curative care such as chemotherapy.
The care team includes the hospice doctor, nurse case manager, visit nurse, social worker, home health aide, pharmacist, chaplain, and volunteers.	A doctor or nurse practitioner provides medical care, and other medical professionals may assist in managing your plan of care.
Hospice is a fully covered benefit under Medicare and most private insurance plans. There are no out-of-pocket costs for services and supplies.	Palliative care is typically billed through Medicare, private insurance, and private pay; a patient co-pay may apply.

Benefits of Palliative Care

Palliative care is provided by an interdisciplinary team of clinicians and support staff who work together to help improve patients’ quality of life. We can:

Assist with completing medical forms
Explain end-of-life Advance Directive options
Train family care partners on patient care
Assess and prescribe needed medical equipment
Coordinate required lab work or testing
Review prescriptions for optimal symptom relief

Palliative care aims to prevent repeated hospitalizations for patients who are living with chronic illnesses. The goal is to manage pain and symptoms at home, eliminating the need to travel to a medical facility.

As the disease progresses, the patient eventually becomes eligible for a higher level of in-home care provided through hospice. When that time comes, and if the patient and family want to remain with Starr, the transition to our hospice program is seamless.

Starting Palliative Care

The referring physician can call our office at (781) 832-0705. Alternately, the patient, family, or social worker can initiate the process by contacting Starr directly; our Admissions Team will follow up with the patient’s physician to obtain required paperwork.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is a patient appropriate for palliative care?

The typical palliative care patient is someone who has a life-limiting illness. The patient may still be receiving curative treatment, but they do not desire to be admitted to the hospital for treatment of symptoms that can be managed at home.

What happens to the patient's relationship with their primary doctor or specialist?

Starr's palliative care team will coordinate care updates with the patient’s primary physician, oncologist, or other specialist. If desired, the patient can still visit with their specialist, though they would need to travel to that doctor’s office.

How often does a nurse visit the patient?

The plan of care is unique to each patient’s needs.

Are curative therapies provided in the home?

Treatments like chemotherapy or advanced diagnostics such as x-rays are still performed at the patient’s regular medical office(s).