Hospice Care in the Buffalo Area

Comfort-focused care for a life-limiting illness, delivered at home, in a facility, or in a dedicated inpatient unit.

Hospice care shifts the goal of treatment from curing an illness to maximizing comfort and quality of life once a physician has certified a life expectancy of six months or less if the illness runs its normal course. A hospice team typically includes a physician, nurses, home health aides, social workers, and chaplains, and focuses on pain and symptom management, and emotional/spiritual support for both the patient and their family. Hospice can be delivered wherever the patient lives — a private home, an assisted living or nursing home room, or a dedicated inpatient hospice facility — and most hospice benefits (including Medicare's hospice benefit) continue to cover care regardless of setting, as long as the focus stays on comfort rather than curative treatment.

Hospice is distinct from palliative care, which can be provided alongside curative treatment at any stage of a serious illness, not only at the end of life. Ask any provider directly which of the two they're describing, since the terms are sometimes used loosely in marketing materials.

Verified hospice providers

Several nursing facilities in our directory, including Northgate Health Care Facility in North Tonawanda, also maintain a dedicated on-site hospice unit or hospice partnership. See the full list in our facility directory.