Extra support while treatment continues
Palliative care
Palliative care is medical care focused on relief from the symptoms and stress of a serious illness. It works alongside your regular doctors and your treatment. You do not have to stop chemotherapy, dialysis or any other treatment, and you do not need a six-month prognosis. It can start at any stage of illness. The goal is to help you feel better, understand your choices and stay out of the hospital when you can.
Reviewed by our medical director, September 24, 2026
On this page (8 sections)
What is palliative care?
A serious illness brings more than the disease itself. There is pain, breathlessness, nausea, poor sleep, worry, and a calendar full of appointments with specialists who each look at one organ. Palliative care looks at the whole person. A palliative clinician takes time to manage symptoms, explain what the illness is likely to do, and help you decide which treatments fit what matters to you.
Palliative care is an added layer. Your oncologist, cardiologist, lung doctor or primary care doctor stays in charge of treating the illness. The palliative team shares its notes and recommendations with them.
Who does palliative care help?
Palliative care is based on need, not on how long someone is expected to live. It may help a person with a serious illness such as cancer, heart failure, COPD, kidney or liver disease, dementia, stroke, ALS or Parkinson's disease who has:
- Pain, shortness of breath, nausea, fatigue, anxiety or other symptoms that are not well controlled
- Two or more hospital stays or emergency room visits in recent months
- Side effects from treatment that make it hard to keep going
- Hard decisions ahead about treatment, and a wish to understand the options
- A family caregiver who is stretched thin and unsure what to expect
What palliative care includes, and what it does not
| Generally included | Not included |
|---|---|
| Assessment and treatment of pain and other symptoms | Replacing your regular doctors or specialists |
| Clear conversations about the illness, what to expect and your goals | The full hospice package of equipment, supplies and medicines |
| Advance care planning, including advance directives and POLST | Emergency response. For an emergency, call 911 |
| Coordination with your doctors and help finding community resources | Daily hands-on caregiving in the home |
| Support for family caregivers | Room and board in any facility |
This table describes palliative care in general. Exact services depend on the program and on what your health plan covers.
What Beta's palliative care team does
Every item below is confirmed for each person before care is scheduled, because palliative care is arranged around the person and their coverage.
- Who is on the team: an accountable medical clinician supported by nursing, with social work, spiritual support and other disciplines involved according to the person's needs, in coordination with the person's treating clinicians
- Where visits happen: home, facility, clinic or telehealth, chosen with you according to clinical need, preference, program capability and coverage. We confirm the setting and your county before scheduling
- How often the team is in contact: an initial assessment, an agreed follow-up plan, visit frequency adjusted to symptoms and goals, and telephone follow-up between visits when appropriate
- After-hours support for palliative patients: call (909) 347-7000 to discuss palliative care availability and the right contact route for your situation
- Who the program accepts: people living with a serious illness who need help with symptoms, stress, goals of care or coordination, including while receiving disease-directed treatment. Each referral is reviewed for needs, location, current program capability and coverage
- Health plans: coverage is verified with your plan for each referral before scheduling
How palliative care referral works
- Step 1
Ask
You, a family member or any of your doctors can ask about palliative care. You can contact us with a question, and clinicians can refer a patient.
- Step 2
We check coverage
Palliative coverage varies by plan. We look at your benefits, find out whether your plan needs an authorization or a doctor's order, and tell you your costs before care starts.
- Step 3
First visit
A palliative clinician reviews your history, medicines and symptoms and asks what matters most to you. Family is welcome.
- Step 4
A plan, shared with your doctors
You get a plan for symptoms and next steps. Your doctors get our notes. Follow-up depends on how you are doing.
Who pays for palliative care?
Unlike hospice, palliative care is not one bundled benefit. It is paid for through the regular parts of your health coverage.
| Coverage | How palliative care is covered | What you may pay |
|---|---|---|
| Original Medicare | Visits with a palliative doctor or nurse practitioner are covered under Part B like other medical visits. Medicare has no separate palliative care benefit | The Part B deductible and usually 20% coinsurance, unless you have Medigap or Medi-Cal as secondary coverage |
| Medi-Cal managed care | Under California's SB 1004, Medi-Cal managed care plans must offer a palliative care benefit to members who meet the plan's criteria. It can include a team, a care plan, symptom management, advance care planning and care coordination, while treatment continues | Usually nothing beyond any Medi-Cal share of cost. The plan must authorize the service |
| Medicare Advantage and private insurance | Most plans cover palliative visits as specialist care. Some have their own home-based palliative programs | Your plan's copays and network rules apply |
See paying for care for hospice and palliative coverage side by side.
How is palliative care different from hospice?
Both focus on comfort and both support the family. The difference is timing and treatment. Palliative care can start at diagnosis and continues alongside treatment. Hospice is for people with a serious illness when a doctor certifies that life expectancy is six months or less if the illness runs its usual course, and treatment to cure the illness stops.
Many people use palliative care first and move to hospice later, often with less disruption because the goals are already clear. See hospice vs palliative care and is it time for hospice.
Common questions about palliative care
Can palliative care be provided at home?
Yes. Palliative care is offered in hospitals, clinics, nursing facilities and at home, depending on the program. Home-based palliative care is especially useful when getting to appointments is hard. Call (909) 347-7000 with the patient's city and ZIP code to confirm current palliative program availability, the visit setting and coverage.
Will Medicare pay for palliative care at home?
Medicare Part B pays for medically necessary visits from a doctor or nurse practitioner, including palliative visits at home, with the usual deductible and coinsurance. Medicare does not have a separate palliative benefit, so services such as social work or chaplain visits are covered only in some programs or plans. We check before care starts.
What is the cost of palliative care at home?
It depends on your coverage. With Original Medicare, a visit is billed like a specialist visit and you usually owe 20% after the Part B deductible unless you have secondary coverage. With Medi-Cal managed care, authorized palliative services usually have no charge to the member. Private plans apply their own copays.
What are the disadvantages of receiving palliative care at home?
The team visits from time to time. It is not in the home every day, and it does not replace a caregiver or an emergency service. Coverage is less complete than hospice, so equipment and medicines go through your regular insurance. And programs differ, so ask exactly what is included.
How long can a patient live on palliative care?
There is no time limit. Palliative care is not tied to life expectancy. Some people use it for a few months during hard treatment and then no longer need it. Others use it for years with a long-term illness. It continues as long as it helps and your coverage allows.
What is an example of palliative care?
A woman with heart failure keeps seeing her cardiologist. A palliative nurse practitioner visits her at home, adjusts medicines for breathlessness and swelling, helps her complete an advance directive, and gives her daughter a plan for what to do when symptoms flare. She has fewer trips to the emergency room and keeps her treatment.
What is the major problem with palliative care?
Mostly that people find it late. Many patients and some doctors confuse it with hospice, so it is offered later than it could help. Access is also uneven: programs vary by area and by health plan, and coverage is pieced together rather than a single benefit. Asking your doctor directly is often what gets it started.
About this page
- Written by
- Beta Hospice care team
- Clinically reviewed by
- our medical director
- Last reviewed
- September 24, 2026
- Next review
- March 24, 2027
How we write and review this site
Sources
- National Institute on Aging: What are palliative care and hospice care? (opens in a new tab)
- California DHCS: Palliative care policies (SB 1004) (opens in a new tab)
- Medicare.gov: Doctor and other health care provider services (Part B) (opens in a new tab)
- Medicare.gov: Hospice care coverage (opens in a new tab)
These sources support the general information on this page. For one personās care and coverage, talk with the hospice team.
You do not have to decide alone.
Call (909) 347-7000 any time, or leave your number and someone from Beta's hospice team will call you. No decision is needed to call. Most families start with a question.
Only a hospice doctor, together with the personās own doctor, can confirm hospice eligibility. A website cannot.
- A nurse answers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
- You can stop hospice at any time
- You have the right to choose your hospice