Twenty-Four Health Care Organizations Win The First John A. Hartford Foundation Tipping Point Challenge

February 5, 2020

NEW YORK, NY (February 5, 2020) The Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) proudly announced today the winners of the inaugural round of the The John A. Hartford Foundation Tipping Point Challenge, a national innovation and quality improvement challenge sponsored by CAPC and The John A. Hartford Foundation. The Challenge is the cornerstone of a five-year campaign aimed at creating a tipping point in the improvement of care delivered to millions of Americans living with a serious illness. Over 1500 organizations participated.

The goal of the first Tipping Point Challenge was to help health care organizations expand the ability to effectively care for seriously ill patients by enhancing skills among clinicians in all medical specialties treating serious illness. These include communication, pain management, and symptom management skills directed at the complex needs of people living with serious illness. The second Challenge will be announced in Spring 2020 and will focus specifically on the development of innovation.

According to Diane E. Meier, MD, director of the Center to Advance Palliative Care, the enthusiasm and heightened activity of health care organizations across the country to rapidly enhance skills that are not usually the focus of training in medical school, is a testament to the thirst and extraordinary need to improve the quality of care provided to people living with serious illness. The competition also shows a very productive collaboration between clinicians and their C-Suite leaders that energizes, inspires, and demonstrates high levels of leadership.

We congratulate the winners of the Tipping Point Challenge for their commitment to continuous learning and skill-building so that all patients with serious illness receive the highest quality care that focuses on what matters most to them, said Terry Fulmer, PhD, RN, FAAN, president of The John A. Hartford Foundation.

From 1500 participating health care organizations, 24 organizations won and another 70 achieved the Honor Roll. Many found that the competition challenged them to be more ambitious in their thinking and facilitated the spread of skills across specialties and disciplines. Organizations and leadership tackled the issue on an enterprise-level, enabling them to continue scaling improvement in the care they deliver to this patient population.

The 24 winning organizations are:

Aspire Health
Bluegrass Care Navigators
Butler Memorial Hospital
CareMore Health
Compassion Hospice
Compassus
HCSC
House of Loreto
Lutheran Hospice and Palliative Care
Main Line Health – Hospice
McKenzie County Healthcare System
Medical University of South Carolina
MedStar Union Memorial Hospital
MercyOne Clinton Medical Center
Moffitt Cancer Center
OSF St. Luke Medical Center
Snowline Hospice
St Mary?s Good Samaritan Hospital
St. Mary’s Sacred Heart Hospital
Stonehill Franciscan Services
Stony Brook University Hospital
Sutter Care at Home
VA Medical Center Iowa City
Visiting Physician Association

The 70 Honor Roll recipients include:

Aspen Hospice Care Inc
Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey
Iowa City VA Health Care System
Lutheran Hospice and Palliative Care
McKenzie County Healthcare System
Nathan Adelson Hospice
Providence Connections – Portland
Providence ElderPlace Housing
Van Duyn Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing
Agrace HospiceCare
Ambercare
Aspire Health
Attention Plus Care
Bluegrass Care Navigators
CareMore Health
Compassion Hospice
Constructive Partnerships Unlimited (CP Unlimited)
Exeter Hospital
Highmark Health
Hospice of the Western Reserve
Hospice of Western Kentucky
House of Loreto
Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP)
Kaiser Permanente Home Health & Hospice
Knox Community Hospital
Margaret Mary Health
MedStar Union Memorial Hospital
MercyOne Clinton Medical Center
Mount Carmel Home Care
Optum Complex Care Management
PopHealthCare
Providence ElderPlace – Portland
Sarasota Memorial Hospital
St Mary’s Good Samaritan Hospital
St. Mary’s Hospital
Stony Brook University Hospital
The Valley Hospital
Tomah Memorial Hospital
UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital
Waldo County General Hospital
Compassus
HCSC
Holy Cross Long-Term Nursing Care
Pathways Home Health and Hospice
Stony Brook Southampton Hospital
The Alverno Healthcare Facility
UPMC Cole
Visiting Physician Association
VNA Care of New England
Blue Shield of California
Butler Memorial Hospital
Coler Rehabilitation and Nursing Facility
Front Range Hospice & Palliative Care
HMSA BlueCross BlueShield of Hawaii
J.C. Blair Memorial Hospital
Main Line Health – Hospice
Medical University of South Carolina
Midland Care Connection
Moffitt Cancer Center
Moses H Cone Memorial Hospital
Mount Carmel West
Mount Sinai Medical Center
NorthStar Care Community
NYC Health and Hospitals – Coney Island
OSF Holy Family Medical Center
Rainbow Hospice and Palliative Care
Snowline Hospice
Stonehill Franciscan Services
Summit Medical Group – New Jersey
UnityPoint at Home – Des Moines Home Health

About the Center to Advance Palliative Care
The Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) is a national organization dedicated to increasing the availability of quality health care for people living with a serious illness. As the nation?s leading resource in its field, CAPC provides health care professionals and organizations with the training, tools, and technical assistance necessary to effectively meet this need. CAPC is part of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. www.capc.org and tippingpointchallenge.capc.org.

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