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Definition of Palliative Care
Palliative care means comfort care (vs. curative care). It makes the hospice philosophy accessible to those with non-terminal conditions. Like hospice, palliative care is holistic. It includes and goes beyond palliative medicine—which focuses on pain and symptom management—to identify and address social, psychological, and spiritual issues that can impact both an individual’s physical condition and the effectiveness of medical interventions.
Except in a few situations, neither federal, state, nor private health plans pay for palliative care. However, more than 1,000 hospitals nationwide and over a dozen in Nebraska have now established palliative care programs, finding that palliative care increases patient satisfaction and decreases the need for medical interventions, thus lowering costs.
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