Frequently Asked Questions

Palliative care is an extra layer of support to help you maintain quality of life, navigate the healthcare system, and explore treatment options. Palliative care increases patients’ comfort by addressing their physical, social, emotional, and spiritual needs.

Yes. The palliative care team works with your other health care providers to help manage your symptoms and enhance your quality of life. They do not replace your other providers. The palliative care team will collaborate with your primary-care team or specialists to develop and if needed, adjust your personalized treatment plan.

Palliative care is appropriate for any age and at any stage of a serious illness; a person does not have to be at the end of life.

Patients can receive palliative care at any stage of a serious illness. Ideally, palliative care starts early in the course of serious illness – to reduce symptoms and suffering from the beginning, and thereby enable the best possible quality of life for the longest amount of time.

Palliative care is provided by a team of professionals, who spend a lot of time listening to patients and families so they have a good understanding of what is important to the person needing care and what kind of care that person wants. The care team is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week either in person or by phone so help is always available.

Palliative care supports patients to keep living, for as long and as well as possible. Palliative care provides the best possible quality of life throughout the course of illness. Patients and families have 24/7 access to their care team to address issues and avoid unnecessary or unwanted emergency room visits.

Patients, their families and loved ones, and the healthcare providers who treat them all benefit from palliative care. This is because so much attention is paid to understanding what matters most to the patient and their families. Palliative care is tailored to the individual. This leads to fewer medical crises, better outcomes and a smoother medical journey.

Palliative care helps to manage many symptoms in addition to pain. Pain from serious illness is a common reason to seek palliative care. And palliative care also treats many other symptoms and challenges caused by advanced illness. These can include nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath, anxiety, depression, restlessness, spiritual distress, constipation, diarrhea, loss of appetite, swelling, itching, insomnia, and other issues that may affect the patient’s and family’s quality of life.

Palliative care can be given to patients who still have many years to live, including those who may recover from their illness. Hospice care is a type of palliative care that’s given near the end of life, when the patient is expected to have six months or less to live.

Many palliative care teams come from hospice agencies or are affiliated with hospices, but the care they provide is palliative care, not hospice care. 

You can request that your primary care doctor or your specialist contact the palliative care team near you. You can call your health insurance member benefits department to see if palliative care is covered by your plan. Or, If you have a caseworker or public health nurse, ask them to help. You can call any of the hospices in Hawaiʻi to see if you qualify for palliative care. Visit the Community-Based Palliative Care Programs in Hawaii – Kōkua Mau for more information.

High quality palliative care programs have the following basic elements:

• Palliative care is provided by a specially trained team of doctors, nurses, social workers, and chaplains who work to identify and address the patient’s and family’s needs (physical, emotional, psychosocial, spiritual, functional). The team ideally includes a member who is certified as a palliative medicine specialist.
• The palliative care team stays in close touch with the patient and with all other treating providers, so everyone is up to date on the patient’s condition and needs. 
• The team works to understand, “what is most important?” to the patient and their loved ones. The team helps  the patient  understand their condition and their options for treatment. The team helps the patient maintain the best health and sense of well-being possible for as long as possible.   
• The team is available by phone or if needed in person for problem solving 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to address issues needing immediate help or advice.

Palliative care visits are covered by some Medicare, some Medicaid plans, and some commercial insurers. There may sometimes be copayments and deductibles. Check with your health insurance provider. Also check, “Who provides supportive care?” Find Community-Based Palliative Care Programs in Hawaii via the Kōkua Mau website.

The palliative care team can help you understand your options for additional care.

• Talk to your doctor
• Check the hospital directory
• Check https://kokuamau.org/palliative-care/
• Check out GetPalliativeCare.org for more information