What Is the Function of Hospice?

We've written about what being in hospice means, and how someone gets referred. This is about hospice's actual purpose — what it's fundamentally built to do.

The Core Function: Comfort Over Cure

Hospice's defining purpose is managing symptoms and preserving quality of life for someone with a life-limiting illness, rather than treating or curing the underlying condition. This is a deliberate philosophy of care, not a lesser version of standard medical treatment — it's a different goal entirely, chosen when curative treatment no longer serves the person's best interest.

Managing Physical Symptoms

Pain control, nausea management, breathing support, and other symptom management are central to hospice's function — not as an afterthought, but as the primary medical focus once the goal has shifted to comfort.

Supporting Emotional and Spiritual Needs

Hospice's function extends beyond the physical — social workers help navigate practical and emotional challenges, and chaplain or spiritual care is available for those who want it, regardless of specific religious background.

Supporting the Whole Family, Not Just the Patient

This is a function many people don't expect: hospice includes support for family members, both during care and through bereavement afterward. The function of hospice isn't limited to the patient's final months — it extends to helping the family navigate what comes after.

Enabling Care in the Setting a Person Prefers

Hospice can function in a person's own home, in a nursing facility, or in a dedicated hospice facility — its purpose includes making comfort-focused care possible wherever someone wants to be, not requiring a specific institutional setting.

Why Understanding This Function Matters

Knowing that hospice's core function is comfort and quality of life — not abandonment of care — helps families make a more informed, less fearful decision about whether and when it's the right fit.

How Non-Medical Support Complements This Function

Hospice provides medical care through scheduled visits. We're a non-medical home care agency that fills the daily hours between those visits, supporting the same goal of comfort and quality of life from a different angle.

Our 7th Week Guarantee

No long contracts. If you don't feel the difference after six weeks of care at 20 or more hours a week, your seventh week is free.

Get Started

Call us at (801) 401-3515 to talk through how we could support your family alongside hospice care.

Learn more about what it actually means to be in hospice, or read our overview of home health, hospice, and home care.