Hospice Care in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Hospice Care in the Pittsburgh Metro

Pittsburgh is the largest city in western Pennsylvania and the anchor of a metropolitan area spanning Allegheny County and surrounding counties — Westmoreland, Butler, Washington, and Beaver. The region is home to one of the oldest demographics of any major US metropolitan area, with decades of deindustrialization having stabilized the population into tightly knit, family-centered communities across the South Hills, North Hills, Mon Valley, and the city's distinctive hillside neighborhoods.

Western Pennsylvania has a well-established hospice culture. The Pittsburgh area's hospital density is among the highest in the United States, and its deep Catholic heritage — rooted in Polish, Italian, Slovak, and Ukrainian parish communities in neighborhoods like Polish Hill, Bloomfield, Lawrenceville, and Squirrel Hill — historically supported strong neighborhood-level traditions of caring for the dying at home. The region has one of the highest rates of hospice utilization in the United States; families here are often familiar with hospice and tend to engage earlier than the national average.

BestHospice.com helps Pittsburgh-area families find partner hospice providers by ZIP code — so you can identify agencies that are actively staffed in your community, whether that is a city neighborhood like Shadyside or a suburb like Bethel Park, Peters Township, or Cranberry Township.

Pittsburgh's Major Health Systems and Hospice Transitions

UPMC (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center) is one of the largest nonprofit health systems in the United States, with its flagship at UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside in the Oakland neighborhood — home to one of the nation's top academic medical centers. The UPMC system includes UPMC Hillman Cancer Center (an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center), UPMC Mercy, UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital, UPMC Passavant, UPMC St. Margaret, and dozens of hospitals and outpatient facilities across western Pennsylvania and beyond. UPMC's palliative care program is among the most established in the country, with specialist palliative care teams embedded across its major hospitals. Notably, UPMC Health Plan is one of Pennsylvania's largest HealthChoices Medicaid managed care organizations in southwestern PA — meaning UPMC-system patients may have direct coordination pathways from inpatient care through UPMC Health Plan to affiliated hospice services.

Allegheny Health Network (AHN), the health system owned by Highmark Health, is the other dominant health system in the Pittsburgh area. AHN operates Allegheny General Hospital (on the North Side), West Penn Hospital (Bloomfield), Forbes Hospital (Monroeville), Jefferson Hospital (Jefferson Hills), Canonsburg Hospital, and Saint Vincent Hospital in Erie. AHN's palliative care and oncology programs coordinate hospice transitions across the western Pennsylvania region, particularly for patients on the Highmark health insurance platform.

St. Clair Health, based in Mt. Lebanon, serves the South Hills suburbs southwest of the city and is a frequent referral source for hospice agencies serving Bethel Park, Upper St. Clair, Peters Township, and the Canonsburg corridor. Heritage Valley Health System serves Beaver County communities including Beaver Falls and Sewickley, providing hospice transition coordination for communities along the Ohio River west of Pittsburgh.

For families whose loved ones received specialty oncology, cardiac, or neurological care at UPMC or AHN, ask the hospital's care management team to initiate a hospice referral before discharge — the Pittsburgh market has mature referral infrastructure and most reputable agencies respond quickly.

Medicare and Pennsylvania Medicaid Coverage in Pittsburgh

Medicare Part A covers hospice for eligible Pittsburgh-area patients with a physician-certified prognosis of six months or less. Covered services include nursing visits, comfort medications, medical equipment, home health aide, social work, chaplain services, and bereavement counseling — at little to no out-of-pocket cost to the patient or family. Medicare Advantage plans from UPMC Health Plan, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna, Humana, and UnitedHealthcare are widely used in the Pittsburgh area; all Medicare Advantage plans must cover hospice at Medicare Part A benefit levels.

Pennsylvania Medicaid (Medical Assistance) covers hospice for qualifying low-income residents through the HealthChoices physical health managed care program. In the southwestern Pennsylvania zone — which includes Allegheny County and surrounding counties — HealthChoices managed care plans include UPMC Health Plan, Highmark Health Options, AmeriHealth Caritas Pennsylvania, Aetna Better Health of Pennsylvania, and Geisinger Health Plan (in some areas). The plan a patient is enrolled in will determine which hospice providers participate in-network, so confirm plan enrollment before selecting a provider.

Pennsylvania also operates the LIFE (Living Independence for the Elderly) program — Pennsylvania's PACE-equivalent — which provides comprehensive medical and supportive services for dual-eligible and Medicaid-eligible elders in several counties including Allegheny County. LIFE enrollment and hospice benefit eligibility interact in specific ways; ask the hospice provider or your LIFE program coordinator how enrollment affects the hospice benefit before electing hospice.

Pennsylvania's APPRISE program, administered through the Pennsylvania Department of Aging, provides free Medicare counseling statewide. APPRISE counselors can help Pittsburgh-area families understand Medicare hospice benefit rules, coordinate benefits, and evaluate Medicare Advantage plan coverage. Pennsylvania does not require a Certificate of Need for hospice licensure, and the state licenses hospice providers through the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Division of Home Health.

Pennsylvania Advance Directives and the POLST Form

Pennsylvania uses two main advance directive documents: the Advance Directive for Health Care (commonly called a living will) and the Healthcare Power of Attorney. The living will expresses a person's wishes about life-sustaining treatment and comfort care in the event they are unable to speak for themselves. The Healthcare Power of Attorney designates a trusted person to make medical decisions on the patient's behalf.

Pennsylvania also uses the POLST (Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) form as a portable medical order for patients with serious illness or advanced frailty. Unlike the living will, the POLST is a signed physician order that travels with the patient — honored by hospice teams, emergency medical services, hospitals, and nursing facilities. The POLST translates a patient's goals of care into actionable medical orders covering CPR, hospitalization, and artificial nutrition.

Hospice teams in the Pittsburgh area can help families complete or update all of these documents at admission or any time during the hospice enrollment. If your loved one does not have current advance directives, the hospice social worker or nurse can walk the family through the process. Having a completed POLST on file is especially important in Pennsylvania for honoring out-of-hospital do-not-resuscitate (DNR) wishes.

How to Choose a Hospice Provider in Pittsburgh

• Do they serve your specific ZIP code? Allegheny County is well-covered, but communities in Westmoreland, Butler, Washington, and Beaver counties may have fewer active agencies. Confirm the provider is currently staffed in your neighborhood — not just licensed for the area.
• How quickly can they respond? Especially for hospital discharges from UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside, Allegheny General, or St. Clair Health. Ask whether same-day intake is possible.
• What is their experience with your loved one's diagnosis? Cancer, dementia, heart failure, and COPD each require different clinical expertise. UPMC Hillman and AHN oncology patients often have complex medication regimens — confirm the agency has experienced oncology nurses.
• Are they nonprofit or for-profit? Western Pennsylvania has strong nonprofit hospice organizations rooted in the region's Catholic hospital tradition. Some families prefer mission-driven nonprofit agencies; others prioritize response time or specific insurance relationships.
• Are they in-network with your Medicaid managed care plan? In southwestern PA, HealthChoices plan membership (UPMC Health Plan, Highmark Health Options, AmeriHealth Caritas, etc.) affects which agencies participate in-network. Confirm before intake.
• Do they offer culturally responsive care? The Pittsburgh area's large Polish, Italian, Slovak, and Ukrainian communities — and its growing South Asian and African American populations — may benefit from providers with relevant language or cultural competencies.
• Do they have an inpatient arrangement? Confirm where inpatient care would be provided if symptoms escalate beyond what can be managed at home.

Full guide: How to choose a hospice provider →

Frequently Asked Questions — Hospice Care in Pittsburgh

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