Home health, palliative care, and hospice — what's the difference
Home health and hospice are different Medicare benefits that serve different goals — and understanding the difference helps families make the right choice at the right time. Kassy Health provides skilled home health care that can run alongside palliative treatment goals, and helps families navigate the transition to hospice when the time is right.
Home health vs. palliative care vs. hospice
These three types of care are often confused — and the confusion has real consequences for families trying to make good decisions during a crisis. Here is a plain-language comparison.
| Feature | Home Health (Kassy Health) | Palliative Care | Hospice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goal | Restore or maintain function; manage skilled medical needs at home | Comfort and symptom management alongside curative treatment | Comfort and dignity when curative treatment has been stopped |
| Medicare benefit | Part A — home health benefit | Part B (outpatient) or Part A depending on setting | Part A — hospice benefit (entirely separate from home health) |
| Curative treatment | Continues | Continues | Stopped for the terminal diagnosis |
| Prognosis requirement | None — any homebound patient with a skilled need qualifies | None | Physician certifies 6-month terminal prognosis if illness runs its normal course |
| Who provides care | Home health agency (Kassy Health) | Hospital, clinic, or outpatient palliative care team | Hospice agency (a separate organization from Kassy Health) |
| What's included | Skilled nursing, PT, OT, SLP, medical social work, home health aide | Pain and symptom management, psychological and spiritual support | 24/7 comfort care, medications, chaplaincy, family grief support |
When Kassy Health can provide care
When a patient has serious illness but is still pursuing treatment. Home health can run concurrently with palliative goals — we manage skilled needs (wound care, medication management, fall prevention) while the patient continues treatment with their oncologist, cardiologist, or other specialist.
After a hospitalization for a serious illness. Cancer, heart failure, COPD, kidney disease — post-hospital recovery is exactly when home health is most valuable. Kassy Health bridges the gap between hospital and functional independence at home.
When a family is approaching a goals-of-care conversation. Our medical social worker has supported dozens of families through this transition. We help facilitate the conversation with the patient's physician — without pressure, without agenda — and connect families with reputable hospice providers in Central Florida when the time comes.
Important: Kassy Health is a home health agency — not a hospice agency. We do not provide hospice care. We do provide the skilled home health care that precedes hospice for many patients, and we help families navigate the transition with clarity and compassion.
Signs it may be time to talk about palliative or hospice care
These conversations are among the hardest a family faces. Kassy Health's medical social worker can sit with you through this — not to push a direction, but to help you understand your options clearly and at your own pace.
Disease progression despite treatment
Treatment is no longer holding the illness at bay, and the goals are shifting from cure to comfort. The oncologist, cardiologist, or specialist is beginning to frame conversations differently.
Increasing hospitalizations
Frequent readmissions are a signal that the illness is progressing and the patient's care needs are outpacing what home health alone can manage. The patient and family are expressing a preference to be home.
The physician has raised goals-of-care conversations
When the treating physician begins discussing advance directives, prognosis, or hospice eligibility, this is a signal worth taking seriously — not alarming, but meaningful.
The patient is expressing wishes about where they want to be
When a patient says "I want to be home" — that is important information. Hospice is designed to support exactly that wish. Home health keeps people home too, but at a different point in the journey.
Understanding Medicare coverage at end of life
Medicare Part A covers home health for homebound patients with skilled needs — regardless of diagnosis or prognosis. A patient with terminal cancer who still has skilled nursing needs and is receiving treatment qualifies for home health.
Medicare Part A also covers hospice for patients with a 6-month terminal prognosis who elect the hospice benefit. Patients cannot receive both home health for the terminal diagnosis and hospice simultaneously — electing hospice means shifting from curative to comfort care for that condition.
Palliative care (non-hospice) can run alongside curative treatment and may be covered under Medicare Part B when provided by a physician-led outpatient palliative care team.
The interaction between these benefits is complex. Kassy Health's medical social worker and intake team are skilled at helping families understand coverage options without jargon or pressure.
Home health, palliative care, and hospice — FAQ
Generally no — not for the same condition. When a patient elects the Medicare hospice benefit, Medicare stops covering home health services for the terminal diagnosis. However, a patient can receive hospice and home health for unrelated conditions simultaneously. This is an important nuance. Kassy Health's social worker and intake team can help families understand exactly what would and wouldn't be covered in their specific situation.
Many physicians and families reframe it: choosing hospice means choosing comfort, dignity, and home. Research consistently shows that some patients live longer on hospice than with continued aggressive treatment, because comfort-focused care reduces the physical burden of interventions that are no longer helping. It is a values decision about how to live the time that remains — not a surrender.
Kassy Health is a home health agency, not a hospice agency — we cannot provide hospice care ourselves. However, our medical social worker actively helps families identify reputable hospice providers in Central Florida and facilitates the transition with the patient's physician. We do not stop caring about our patients when their needs evolve — we help them find the right next step.
Palliative care is comfort-focused care that can be provided at any stage of illness, alongside curative treatment. A patient receiving chemotherapy can also receive palliative care for symptom management — these are not mutually exclusive. Hospice is a specific Medicare benefit for patients with a terminal prognosis of 6 months or less who have chosen to stop curative treatment and focus entirely on comfort. All hospice is palliative, but not all palliative care is hospice.
Yes. The hospice election can be revoked at any time. A patient who elects hospice and then decides to pursue curative treatment can revoke the hospice benefit and return to standard Medicare coverage — including home health if they qualify. There is no penalty. If their condition later meets the criteria again and they choose hospice again, they can re-elect it.