Earlier this week, Tom Koutsoumpas, Founder and CEO of National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI), participated in a fireside conversation with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, during the launch of Action for Progress (A4P) — a new national initiative convening providers, payers, and community leaders to address the nation’s mental health and addiction crisis.
The discussion emphasized the importance of strengthening behavioral health integration across the healthcare system, ensuring patients and families can access mental health and addiction support alongside medical care as a foundational element of treatment across the continuum.
For NPHI, advancing whole-person care means addressing physical and behavioral health needs together — supporting patients and families before, during, and throughout serious illness, and reinforcing care models that reflect the full scope of patient needs.
Speaking of the event held at the National Press Club in Washington D.C., Tom remarked:
“We cannot deliver truly high-quality care if we treat mental and physical health as separate. Patients and families need behavioral health support woven into care from the beginning — not added later as an afterthought.”
