Research indicates that hospice and palliative care do not shorten life and may modestly extend survival for some patients. A widely cited study published in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management found that Medicare patients who elected hospice care lived an average of 29 days longer than similar patients who did not receive hospice services (Connor et al., 2007).

Additional studies of patients with serious illnesses, including heart failure and advanced cancer, suggest that earlier integration of palliative care improves symptom control, reduces hospitalizations, and can contribute to longer survival while significantly improving quality of life (Temel et al., 2010; Bakitas et al., 2015). While the primary goal of hospice is comfort and quality of life, evidence increasingly shows that supportive, patient-centered care can help people live better—and sometimes longer.

References
Connor SR, Pyenson B, Fitch K, Spence C, Iwasaki K. Comparing hospice and non-hospice patient survival among patients who die within a three-year window. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. 2007.
Temel JS et al. Early palliative care for patients with metastatic non–small-cell lung cancer. New England Journal of Medicine. 2010.
Bakitas MA et al. Early versus delayed initiation of concurrent palliative oncology care. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2015.