This article describes the characteristics of hospice-based palliative care programs in Canada, based on a sampling of respondents, teams, programs, and hospitals. This report is an outgrowth of a study of social services in Canadian, hospital-based palliative care programs. One hundred eighty-five hospitals were polled between December 1987 and March 1988, using a mailed-out questionnaire. One hundred sixty programs replied, a response rate of 86.5 percent.