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Palliative Care
Palliative care is a type of health care for patients and families facing life-threatening illness. Palliative care helps patients to achieve the best possible quality of life right up until the end of life. Palliative care is also called end-of-life, or comfort care.
BC Palliative Care Drug Plan (Plan P)
BC Palliative Care Benefits support BC residents of any age who have reached the end stage of a life-threatening disease or illness and who wish to receive palliative care at home. “Home” is defined as wherever the person is living, whether in their own home, with family or friends, in a supportive/assisted living residence, or in a hospice unit at a residential care facility (e.g. a community hospice bed that is not covered under PharmaCare Plan B).
Eligible patients receive:
- 100% coverage of eligible costs for medications used in palliative care through the PharmaCare BC Palliative Care Drug Plan (Plan P), and
- medical supplies and equipment through the local health authority.
Physicians or nurse practitioners submit a registration form to PharmaCare for their patients. The single registration form is used to notify both PharmaCare and the health authority of the patient’s eligibility for the benefits.
The Palliative Care Drug Plan (Plan P) Formulary (PDF, 385KB) lists the drugs that PharmaCare covers under the drug plan portion.
Our BC Palliative Care Benefits patient information sheet (PDF, 475KB) provides further details.
Note: This plan covers only items related to palliative care, so you will also need coverage under Plan C or Fair PharmaCare to help with other prescription and medical supply costs.
- To register, speak to your physician or nurse practitioner.
- For information about coverage limits, please see our General PharmaCare Coverage Policies.