Palliative Care

Palliative Care in Massachusetts

When confronted with a serious illness, nothing supports your health and healing more than being in a familiar environment. That’s why Beth Israel Lahey Health At Home is committed to addressing your complex health needs. We’ll care for you or your loved one in the most comfortable and convenient setting possible.

With Beth Israel Lahey Health At Home, you choose exceptional palliative care delivered with compassion and dignity. We offer palliative care to people in their home, in assisted living or skilled nursing settings.

About Palliative Care

Palliative care is specialized medical care that a qualified team provides to those with serious or life-limiting illness. Palliative care focuses on providing relief from physical and emotional symptoms, including pain management. This type of care provides treatment and support based on goals of care set by you or your loved one.

Palliative care is highly individualized, and changes based on prognosis. You or your loved one can choose to receive palliative care alongside curative treatment.

Our Services

Our multidisciplinary team offers a range of specialized services, including:

• Advanced care planning to help determine your health goals and how to meet them
• Collaboration and coordination with the palliative team, your physician and your family
• Coordination and collaboration with social workers, chaplains or specialists from other disciplines based on your individual needs
• Family and caregiver support
• Pain and symptom management

Candidates for Palliative Care

Palliative care focuses on improving your quality of life by helping you manage medical treatments and relieve symptoms such as pain, fatigue and nausea. You or your loved one may be a candidate for palliative care if you have:

• Advanced kidney or liver disease
• Cancer
• Heart disease
• Neurological disorders, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Parkinson’s disease
• Progressive lung disease, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or pulmonary fibrosis

Palliative or Hospice Care?

Palliative care focuses on relieving pain and needs associated with a disease or condition regardless of whether it can be cured. Unlike hospice care, palliative care can be provided at any stage of a serious or life-limiting illness. Life expectancy is not a factor in determining eligibility. In some cases, palliative care may be pre-hospice care.

Hospice and palliative care both aim to help you or your loved one manage symptoms and improve quality of life. A physician may recommend hospice care when an illness no longer responds to cure-focused treatment or when life expectancy is anticipated to be six months or less.