Hospice Jobs & Careers
Hospice careers cover end-of-life care delivered at home, in inpatient hospice units, in nursing facilities, and in residential hospice homes — a meaningful and growing segment of healthcare focused on comfort, dignity, family support, and goals-of-care alignment for patients with terminal illness.
The Medical.Careers hospice hub aggregates active openings, structures the specialty around the way clinicians actually think about it, and pairs job search with editorial context on compensation, scope of practice, and outlook. Listings come through credentialed channels in the MedicalRecruiting.com network, which means lower exposure to expired postings, duplicate listings, and non-credentialed staffing fronts than on broad horizontal job sites.
What Hospice Professionals Do
Hospice and palliative medicine physicians and APPs lead symptom management, complex pain and dyspnea management, and goals-of-care conversations across hospice and palliative consult services. Hospice nurses (RN case managers and continuous care RNs) deliver direct patient care, family education, and end-of-life nursing care. Hospice social workers and chaplains provide psychosocial and spiritual care. Hospice aides deliver personal care. Bereavement counselors support families before and after death. Volunteer coordinators run hospice volunteer programs.
Roles in Hospice
- Hospice and palliative medicine physician
- Hospice / palliative NP and PA
- Hospice RN case manager
- Continuous care / crisis hospice RN
- Inpatient hospice unit RN
- Hospice LPN
- Hospice social worker
- Hospice chaplain
- Hospice aide (CHHA)
- Hospice bereavement counselor
- Hospice clinical manager / director
Hospice and palliative care are related but distinct — hospice is end-of-life care for terminal patients with a six-month or less prognosis; palliative care is symptom and goals-of-care management at any stage of serious illness.
Hospice Compensation
Hospice and palliative medicine physicians typically earn $250,000–$325,000. Hospice NPs and PAs typically earn $115,000–$155,000. Hospice RN case managers typically earn $75,000–$105,000, with after-hours and continuous care premiums extending the range. Hospice aides typically earn $32,000–$45,000. Hospice social workers typically earn $60,000–$85,000.
When you evaluate any specific hospice opening on Medical.Careers, look beyond base salary to the full economic picture: productivity bonus structure, signing and retention bonuses, retirement match and vesting, malpractice type and tail coverage, CME allowance, license and credential reimbursement, paid time off, and the schedule itself. Two roles with similar base compensation can differ by 20–40 percent in total economic value once these terms are factored in.
Outlook for Hospice Careers
Hospice demand is steady to growing, driven by aging demographics and continued shift toward in-home end-of-life care. Hospice nursing and APP demand is sustained; hospice and palliative medicine physicians remain in nationwide shortage.
How to Apply to Hospice Jobs on Medical.Careers
Most Medical.Careers listings include a direct apply button that submits your application to the employer or recruiting partner. Have a current CV or resume ready that lists your active state licensure, board certifications and life-support credentials as applicable, DEA registration where relevant, and a concise summary of clinical experience by setting and patient population. For physician and advanced practice hospice roles, expect early conversations to cover practice fit, schedule expectations, geographic flexibility, compensation range, and timing. Credentialing and privileging usually run in parallel with offer negotiation and can take 60 to 120 days; plan your start date accordingly.
Tips for Hospice Job Seekers
- Be specific. Replace generic phrases like "managed clinical care" with concrete patient volumes, procedure counts, and case mix relevant to hospice practice.
- Be reachable. Confirm your contact information is current and check email frequently — hiring teams move fast and often lose interest when candidates take more than a few days to reply.
- Be realistic about geography. If you are flexible, say so explicitly. If you are not, be clear about why so the recruiter does not waste time on the wrong roles.
- Be honest about timing. Non-competes, contract end dates, and licenses still in process are easier to plan around early than to surface late.
- Ask for the contract early. A written contract enables substantive negotiation; verbal offers often paper over terms that matter.
Above all, treat your hospice job search as a structured process. Track which roles you have applied to, when you followed up, what compensation range was discussed, and what the contract terms looked like. The clinicians who get the best outcomes are almost always the ones who keep good notes, move quickly when the right opportunity appears, and walk away from offers that do not match their priorities.
Frequently Asked Questions About Hospice Careers
Do you need a fellowship to practice hospice and palliative medicine?
Yes for board certification — a one-year HPM fellowship is required for ABMS / AOA board certification, open to physicians from many primary specialties.
Is hospice nursing emotionally sustainable?
Many experienced hospice nurses describe it as one of the most meaningful and sustainable nursing tracks, though it requires strong support, healthy boundaries, and team culture.
How does hospice differ from palliative care?
Hospice is care for terminal patients with prognosis of six months or less, focused exclusively on comfort. Palliative care is symptom and goals-of-care management at any stage of serious illness, alongside curative treatment.
Is Medical.Careers free to use for healthcare candidates?
Yes. Medical.Careers is completely free for clinicians, advanced practice providers, allied health professionals, behavioral health clinicians, pharmacy professionals, and healthcare administrators. There is no subscription, no paywall on applications, and no required signup to search and apply.
How often are new jobs added in this specialty?
Medical.Careers refreshes job listings continuously throughout each business day. New positions are sourced from credentialed healthcare employers and recruitment partners within the MedicalRecruiting.com network, with stale and filled roles removed automatically.