Family-Owned & Operated Medicare Certified CHAP Accredited 24/7 Response Serving Michigan

Home Services Palliative Care

Palliative care — comfort-focused support during a serious illness.

Palliative care is not hospice. It's clinical support for the symptoms, the side effects, and the planning that come with a long, serious illness — available at any stage, alongside the treatment you're already receiving.

If you're dealing with advanced cancer, heart failure, COPD, Parkinson's, kidney disease, or dementia — and you need more support than your current care team is giving you — palliative care exists for exactly this.

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Comfort, alongside treatment Available at any stage

The most common question

Hospice or palliative — which one fits?

Both are about comfort. The difference comes down to where the illness is, and what the family wants the next chapter to look like.

Hospice

Comfort-only care

When

Life expectancy of 6 months or less

Goal

Comfort, dignity, and meaningful time. Not curing the illness

Treatment

Curative treatment is paused. All care is focused on comfort

Coverage

100% covered by the Medicare hospice benefit. Most private insurance follows

Setting

Home, facility, or both. Care travels with your loved one

Palliative Care

Comfort + treatment

When

Any stage of a serious illness. No prognosis required, no time limit

Goal

Reduce pain and symptoms while ongoing treatment continues

Treatment

Compatible with chemotherapy, dialysis, surgery, and any other care

Coverage

Provided at zero cost to the patient/family

Setting

Home, clinic, or coordinated with your existing medical team

If you're not sure which one fits, a 15-minute conversation with a Bluebird nurse will tell you. Most families call thinking they need one and learn they need the other.

Who it's for

Who palliative care is for

Palliative care is for anyone living with a serious illness who needs more support than their current care plan provides. Common conditions include:

Advanced cancer

including during active chemotherapy or radiation

Congestive heart failure (CHF)

especially after a recent hospitalization

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

particularly when breathing is increasingly difficult

Parkinson's disease

and other progressive neurological conditions

Kidney disease

including patients on dialysis

Dementia

in its earlier and middle stages

ALS

Progressive support

Other Serious Illness

Stroke, liver, more

A terminal prognosis is not required. You do not have to stop treatment. Many of our palliative patients are still working with their oncologist, cardiologist, or specialist — palliative care runs alongside that work, not instead of it.

What's included

What palliative care includes

Pain management

clinical assessment and a treatment plan tailored to your specific illness and goals

Symptom management

nausea, breathlessness, fatigue, anxiety, sleep, appetite

Medication coordination

reviewing what you're on, flagging interactions, talking with your specialists

Goals-of-care conversations

what matters to you, what you want to keep doing, what you'd rather avoid

Care planning

the practical, paperwork, and family-conversation side of a long illness

Emotional and spiritual support

for the patient and for the family

Palliative care is delivered in your home, in a clinic visit, or in coordination with the medical team you already have. The setting follows what works for you.

Insurance & coverage

How palliative care is covered

Palliative care from Bluebird is provided at zero cost to the patient and the family.

Coverage flows through Medicare, Medicaid, and most private insurance plans — but you don't need to figure out which one applies before you call. We handle the paperwork. You won't see a bill.

Call (248) 264-3704 with any questions about your specific plan.

Not sure if it's time for palliative care? Let's talk it through.

Palliative care often gets brought up later than it should. Families who start palliative earlier almost always say they wish they'd called sooner.

A first conversation with a Bluebird nurse takes 15 minutes and commits you to nothing. We'll listen, ask about what's going on, and tell you honestly whether palliative care is the right fit right now.

(248) 264-3704

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