Purpose@#This study attempted to develop clinical guidelines to help patients use hospice and palliative care (HPC) at an appropriate time after writingphysician orders for lifesustaining treatment (POLST) by identifying the characteristics of HPC use of patients with terminal cancer. @*Methods@#This retrospective study was conducted to understand the characteristics of HPC use of patients with terminal cancer through decision treeanalysis. The participants were 394 terminal cancerpatientswho were hospitalized at a cancer-specialized hospital in Seoul, South Korea and wrote POLST from January 1, 2019 to March 31, 2021. @*Results@#The predictive model for the characteristics of HPC use showed three main nodes (living together, pain control, and period to death after writing POLST). The decision treeanalysis of HPC use by terminal cancerpatients showed that the most likely group to use HPC use was terminal cancerpatientswho had a cohabitant, received pain control, and died 2 months or more after writing a POLST. The probability of HPC usage rate in this group was 87.5%. The next most likely group to use HPC had a cohabitant and received pain control; 64.8% of this group used HPC. Finally, 55.1% of participants who had a cohabitant used HPC, which was a significantly higher proportion than that of participants who did not have a cohabitant (1.7%). @*Conclusion@#This study provides meaningful clinical evidence to help make decisions on HPC use more easily at an appropriate time.