| Focus | Primarily focuses on providing end-of-life care and support for individuals with terminal illnesses or conditions, with the goal of ensuring comfort and quality of life. | Focuses on providing healthcare services, therapies, and support to individuals who are recovering from illness, surgery, or injury, with the goal of returning to independence. |
| Patient Population | Typically serves individuals with a limited life expectancy (usually six months or less) and who have chosen to cease curative treatments in favor of comfort care. | Serves individuals of various ages who require medical, therapeutic, or supportive care to recover from illness, injury, or surgery, including seniors and people with disabilities. |
| Care Setting | Often provided in the patient's own home, a hospice facility, a nursing home, or an assisted living facility, depending on the patient's preferences and needs. | Primarily delivered in the patient's own home but may also extend to other settings like skilled nursing facilities, depending on the patient's condition and requirements. |
| Care Goals | Focuses on relieving pain, managing symptoms, providing emotional and spiritual support, and enhancing the patient's comfort and quality of life in the final stages of illness. | Aims to improve the patient's overall health and functional independence by providing medical care, therapies, and education to manage their condition or recovery. |
| Services Provided | Includes pain management, symptom control, emotional and spiritual support, counseling for patients and families, and assistance with daily activities. | Offers skilled nursing care, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, wound care, medication management, and assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs). |
| Duration of Care | Typically provided for as long as the patient has a limited life expectancy, often until the end of life. | Generally, delivered over a specified period, depending on the patient's recovery progress and healthcare needs, which may vary from a few weeks to several months. |
| Multidisciplinary Team | Involves a multidisciplinary team of healthcare professionals, including nurses, hospice aides, social workers, chaplains, and volunteers, to provide comprehensive care and support. | Includes a multidisciplinary team, which may consist of nurses, therapists, home health aides, and physicians, working together to address the patient's healthcare needs. |
| Bereavement Support | Offers bereavement support and counseling for the patient's family and loved ones both during the patient's care and after their passing. | Typically does not provide bereavement support as part of its services, unless it's related to the patient's specific care plan. |
| Payment | Often covered by Medicare, Medicaid, or private insurance, with limited out-of-pocket costs for the patient and family. | Generally covered by Medicare, Medicaid, or private insurance, but the patient may have some cost-sharing responsibilities, including copayments or deductibles. |
| Care Transition | Focuses on ensuring a peaceful and comfortable transition during the end-of-life phase, including pain management and emotional support for the patient and family. | Concentrates on aiding the patient's transition from a healthcare facility to their home, with an emphasis on recovery, rehabilitation, and independence. |
| Care Decision | Typically chosen when curative treatments are no longer effective or desired, and the patient and family opt for comfort-focused end-of-life care. | Chosen when individuals need assistance with their recovery, rehabilitation, or ongoing healthcare needs while residing at home. |
