WASHINGTON, D.C. [May 6, 2025] — The National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI) marked a major milestone at its 2025 Annual Summit, celebrating ten years of advancing high-quality, nonprofit hospice and advanced illness care. The anniversary event welcomed member organizations from across the nation to honor ten years of shared purpose — and to ignite new ideas and partnerships for the decade ahead
Throughout the summit, NPHI members, partners, and healthcare leaders came together to exchange bold ideas and practical solutions to improve care delivery and strengthen nonprofit providers. From inspiring keynotes to high-energy Spark Rounds and expert-led breakout sessions, the event created space for meaningful conversations and new connections.
The week commenced with a keynote from Maureen Zappala, former NASA propulsion engineer and nationally recognized expert on impostor syndrome, who shared practical tools for overcoming self-doubt and owning one’s achievements. Later, Mainul Mondal, Founder and CEO of Ellipsis Health, explored how artificial intelligence is transforming care management — enabling better outcomes and greater efficiency for providers. In an uplifting session, Diane Ty, Managing Director at the Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging, invited attendees to reimagine aging with intention and dignity, drawing from her personal experience with nonprofit hospice care for her father.
Wednesday’s plenary sessions featured a preview of the upcoming PBS documentary Caregiving — produced by Bradley Cooper and supported by NPHI as a national partner — spotlighting the urgent realities faced by families across the country. Attendees also heard from Dr. Marian Grant and Dr. Anthony Back, who led a powerful discussion on expanding public engagement through evidence-based communication. Their session introduced the Serious Illness Messaging Toolkit, a plain-language resource developed to help organizations connect more effectively with the communities they serve. Other sessions explored emerging policy challenges, data and understanding the measures that matter to payers, and the critical role of transparency in building trust.
NPHI’s policy team — Ethan McChesney, Judi Lund Person, and Quin Lyons — shared a timely update on the evolving political landscape and outlined NPHI’s strategic efforts to advance value-based care and strengthen hospice program integrity. In a separate session, Dr. Cameron Muir, Chief Medical and Innovation Officer, introduced NPHI’s new Advanced Cancer Care Clinical Guide, designed to help members deliver high-quality, patient-centered care across the cancer continuum.
Closing out the Summit, NPHI CEO Tom Koutsoumpas reminded attendees that the impact of the past decade—and the promise of the next—rests in the hands of those leading this work every day, “now as we look back on the past ten years, we acknowledge that this decade of impact truly belongs to you—our members, our partners, and of course your staff who work tirelessly every day to provide compassionate, high-quality care.”
Carole Fisher, President of NPHI, remarked on the biggest takeaway from this year’s Summit, emphasizing how the event re-centered everyone’s focus, “this Summit was a launching pad for the innovations and collaborations that will define the next decade of hospice and advanced illness care. We’re coming away from this experience with a renewed focus on what matters most—the patients and families our members serve each and every day.”