In the years since the development of hospice care in the United States, some health care providers have questioned how hospice differs from that which has traditionally been available to terminally ill patients, i.e., hospitalization, long term care, and/or home care. This question has been particularly relevant within the home health industry. The major differences can be summarized as follows:

• Hospice provides central case management and continuity across both home and inpatient care settings.
• Hospice utilizes an interdisciplinary team model of care with physician direction of the team and regular meetings and participation of all providers involved in the care, including volunteers. This team is involved in all aspects of care planning and revisions, direct care, and monitoring.
• Hospice offers additional services not traditionally offered. These include the utilization of volunteers in services:
  • both direct and support capacities,
  • bereavement follow-up,
  • additional social services such as
    • support groups and family counseling,
    • spiritual care,
    • more integral involvement with the patient’s personal physician,
    • medical direction and consultation for the attending physician,
  • as well as offering broader services in the more traditional categories, such as
    • longer nursing visits,
    • continuous care capability,
    • respite care
• Hospice focuses on both the family and the patient as the unit of care.
• Hospice makes its services available on a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week basis. These include, at a minimum:
  • nursing and physician contacts with visit capability;
  • prescription drugs and biologicals;
  • medical supplies and equipment;
  • and inpatient admission capability.
  • In addition, off-hours on-call staff are familiar with the patients and care plans, can coordinate closely with other members of the hospice interdisciplinary team, and can establish procedures for communication and reporting.
• Hospice offers inpatient care components in which care is directed, managed, and coordinated by hospice personnel.
• Hospice medical records are comprehensive and reflective of the full range of problems, services, level of care, and care planning across care settings.
• Hospice interdisciplinary team members are specially trained in palliative care techniques and intervention with terminally ill patients and their families. Hospice team members also generally receive special supervision and internal support programs geared towards alleviating the unique stresses inherent in work with the dying.
• Hospice offers unique programs for volunteers who in turn are carefully screened, selected, trained, and supervised to perform a wide variety of direct service and supportive functions for hospice patient, families, and the program in general.
• Care plans are comprehensive and reflect the combined physical, sociological, emotional, educational, and spiritual needs of the patient and family.