01/29/2026
Have you ever thought "What is the difference between home health and hospice care?"
The main difference between home health and hospice is the goal of care: home health focuses on recovery and rehabilitation, while hospice focuses on comfort and quality of life at the end of life.
Home health care is curative. The goal of home health is to help patients recover from injury, surgery, or illness, or progress toward improved functionality. A patient must be homebound to receive Medicare benefits for home health services. Patients typically require intermittent skilled nursing care, physical therapy, speech-language pathology services, or continued occupational services, as prescribed by their doctor. The duration of home health services depends on the patient’s care plan and goals.
Hospice provides comfort care to a patient with advanced illness when curative medical treatments are no longer effective or preferred. The goal of hospice is symptom management and quality of life. A patient must have a life expectancy of six months or less if their disease runs its natural course, as certified by a physician. “Routine” hospice care takes place wherever the patient calls home—a private residence, nursing home, assisted living community, or residential care facility for the elderly. In addition to routine care, hospice provides continuous care or inpatient care for acute symptom management, as well as respite care.
Please reach out if you or a loved one has any questions that have not been answered. We would be more than happy to have telephone conversation or in person goals of care/informational.
https://signaturehch.com/
Albany, OR phone: 541-812-5254
