Hill Country Supportive Care

Supportive Care

A serious illness can cause many symptoms such as pain, fatigue, nausea and anxiety. Treatments and medications can come with their own side effects. Supportive Care, formerly known as Palliative Care, is for any patient with a serious or chronic illness who is experiencing a decreased quality of life because of symptoms from either the disease, or treatment or both.

Our goal is to improve the quality of your life so that you can get back to accomplishing your own goals. We do this by focusing on relieving the symptoms and stresses of a serious illness in order to maximize quality of life, according to the patient’s and family’s goals and aspirations.

Supportive Care provides an added layer of support to you and your loved ones in home while supporting and your treating physicians. Patients might also utilize both Home Care and Supportive Care at the same time.

Our Team

The Supportive Care team offers home visits, providing both medical management and more personal support. Supportive Care has nurse practitioners on the team to prescribe medicines, order lab tests and provide diagnostic services. For cancer patients, for example, this can be "highly complex" with specialists and treatments involved. The team also has the ability to connect the patient with social workers, chaplains, and people who can help with understanding advanced directives.

Goals of Supportive Care

• Provide expert symptom management
• Optimize the quality of life for both patient and family
• Help patients and families better understand their condition and care choices
• Empower patients and families in managing complex illnesses
• Improve patients’ ability to undergo medical treatments
• Prevent frequent hospitalizations and emergency room visits
• Facilitate open discussions with patients and families regarding goals of care, concerns and wishes
• Help in navigating the healthcare system
• Assist in creating and updating advance care plans to include advance directives
• Collaborate with the current medical team to provide a comprehensive plan of care
• Studies have shown that palliative care can improve quality of life, while extending life expectancy.

Receiving Supportive Care

Supportive Care will visit you in your home. Currently we are seeing patients within a 40 mile radius of Methodist Hospital | Hill Country. At this time we are seeing patients in their home or assisted living community.

Supportive Care visits are charged similar to a specialist’s office visit. You may have a co-pay, depending on your insurance. Our services are covered by Medicare, Medicaid, and many insurance plans.

To arrange a consult, ask your primary care provider for a referral. Once the referral is received, the Supportive Care team will review your records and get in contact to set up a consultation to see if you would benefit from the services.