Circle of Life Award: Celebrating Innovation in Palliative and End-of-Life Care

circleoflife@aha.org

The Circle of Life Award honors innovative palliative and end-of-life care programs of any size serving patients with serious or life-limiting illness that demonstrate progress in 1 or more of the following areas:

• Advancing care that is safe, timely, efficient, effective, equitable and patient- and family-centered
• Partnering with payers, other providers, community groups, faith communities and others relevant to the community served
• Developing meaningful measures and metrics to track organizational progress and/or advance the field
• Implementing nontraditional models of care delivery and
• Fully integrating palliative care into a system of care or a community
• Making palliative care financially sustainable long term

Honorees are typically:

• Emphasizing coordinated or integrated care delivery throughout all settings
• Engaging underserved populations
• Promoting palliative care in diverse populations
• Using strategies for engaging communities
• Creating partnerships with other healthcare organizations and practitioners, and initiatives within long-term care facilities

Rural organizations have received the award in the past. Awards will be presented at the 2025 AHA Leadership Summit, July 20-22 in Nashville, Tennessee.

All organizations or groups in the United States that provide palliative or end-of-life care are eligible for the award.

Up to 3 awards are presented each year.

A link to the application package is available on the program website.

Email completed applications to circleoflife@aha.org.