Dr. Douglas Tannas is a palliative care physician at IU Health North Hospital. “When some people think of palliative care, they think of hospice. Hospice is a form of palliative care, but it’s not the only form of palliative care,” said Dr. Tannas. “Hospice is certainly all about focusing on comfort for people who are near the end of their lives and that’s a wonderful thing, but there are also people who need additional support before then, even as they’re continuing to aggressively treat an illness. People sometimes need help managing symptoms, they need emotional support, sometimes they need to talk through questions about what they want to do.”