More than a place, hospice care is a philosophy that is now called "palliative care." Dictionary.com defines a hospice as "A program that provides palliative care and attends to the emotional and spiritual needs of terminally ill patients at an inpatient facility or at the patient's home," and the Cancer Web Internet site defines a hospice as "An institution that provides a centralized program of palliative and supportive services to dying persons and their families, in the form of physical, psychological, social, and spiritual care; such services are provided by an interdisciplinary team of professionals and volunteers who are available at home and in specialized inpatient settings. Origin: L. Hospitium, hospitality, lodging, fr. Hospes, guest"

Palliative care neither aims to hasten death nor to postpone death. It is characterized by concern for symptom relief and promotion of general well-being and spiritual, psychological and social comfort for the person with a life-threatening or life-limiting illness. The need to maintain quality of life has become increasingly important, not just in the dying stages, but also in the weeks, months and years before death. As the worldwide increase in life expectancy has led to a corresponding increase in the incidence of age-related chronic illnesses and palliative care increasingly cares for patients with illnesses other than cancer such as motor neurone disease and heart failure. The patient and family are both the focus of palliative care, with emphasis placed upon the well-being of family caregivers as well as the patient. In addition, palliative care is no longer restricted to adults and many teams and hospices now exist for children of any age.

Palliative care has been described as "Intensive care without the hardware."

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