Palliative care can help patients and families facing serious illness with symptom management, goals of care conversations, challenging emotional, existential, and social situations, as well as care transitions.

How to Refer

To be eligible for Palliative Care services, patients should:

  • Have a serious, progressive, life-threatening illness (e.g. cancer, heart failure, chronic lung disease, chronic kidney disease, end-stage liver disease, a degenerative neurologic disease)
  • Have a need for symptom management, advance care planning, or psychosocial support
  • Be over 18 years old

For patients with cancer:

Complete an APEX referral to: "Symptom Management Service"

Contact us: (415) 885-7671

For patients with a diagnosis other than cancer:

Complete an APEX referral to: "Palliative Care (non-cancer)"

Contact us: (415) 514-1966

To be seen by home visit, patients must be established patients at UCSF, be homebound other than for medical appointments and live in San Francisco. Patients covered by Blue Shield of California, San Francisco Health Plan, or Partnership Health Plan living in San Francisco, San Mateo, or Marin/Sonoma/Napa counties may also be eligible for home-based palliative care.

For inpatient referrals, call (415) 502-6861.