Dayton Senior AdvisorWhat is the difference between hospice and palliative care?
Palliative care treats symptoms and stress at any stage of a serious illness, alongside curative treatment; hospice is comfort care for someone whose doctor expects six months or less to live and who has chosen to stop curative treatment for the terminal illness.
Palliative care is usually provided by a hospital or clinic team and billed like other medical care. Hospice is provided by a licensed hospice program under Medicare's hospice benefit.
Which hospices serve Greater Dayton?
ODH lists 11 licensed hospice care programs with offices in the six counties: Cherish Hospice LLC (Springfield), Everheart Hospice (Greenville), Adoration Hospice (Beavercreek), Hospice of Miami County (Troy), Capital Health Hospice (Miamisburg), Caretenders Hospice (Moraine), Compassus - Western Ohio (Dayton), Crossroads Hospice of Dayton, LLC (Dayton), Heartland Hospice (dayton) (Kettering), Hospice of Dayton (Dayton), Interim Healthcare Hospice of Dayton (Huber Heights).
Many skilled home health agencies also have affiliated hospices, and hospices based outside the six counties may serve them too. Ask each one about after-hours response times, nurse visit frequency and where inpatient care happens when symptoms cannot be managed at home.
What does Medicare's hospice benefit pay for?
The hospice team's visits, medications and equipment related to the terminal illness, short inpatient stays for symptom control and short respite stays for the family caregiver, wherever the patient lives.
It does not pay room and board in an RCF or nursing home. A patient may leave hospice at any time and return later; the benefit renews in set periods as long as the doctor recertifies eligibility.
Can a resident receive hospice in an Ohio assisted living facility?
Yes. Ohio allows a resident enrolled in hospice to remain in a residential care facility even when their needs exceed the usual limits, as long as the hospice and the facility can meet them, and several Dayton-area RCFs list hospice service on their ODH record.
Ask the RCF which hospices it works with and whether staff are comfortable with end-of-life care at night. Our facility pages show whether ODH lists hospice service.
When should a family ask about hospice?
When treatment is no longer working or is causing more burden than benefit, when hospital visits are becoming frequent, or when the doctor says they would not be surprised if the patient died within a year.
Many families say afterward that they wish they had started sooner. A hospice can do an informational visit before any decision is made.
Side by side
| Hospice | Palliative care | |
|---|---|---|
| Who | Life expectancy of six months or less | Any stage of a serious illness |
| Treatment | Comfort care in place of curative treatment | Alongside curative treatment |
| Payment | Medicare hospice benefit | Regular medical coverage |
| Where | Home, assisted living, nursing home or inpatient unit | Mostly clinics and hospitals |
Drawn from Ohio Revised Code Chapter 3721, Ohio Administrative Code Chapters 3701-16 and 5160:1-6, ODH and Ohio Department of Aging publications, Ohio Medicaid letters, CareScout, CMS and the VA; our editorial standards explain how we check them.
