VITAS Healthcare President and CEO Nick Westfall Joins NHPCO Board of Directors

February 27, 2020

MIAMI, FL – President & CEO Nick Westfall of VITAS^® Healthcare, the nation’s leading provider of end-of-life care, has been named one of seven new members of the board of directors of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO), effective January 22, 2020.

As executive leader of the healthcare provider that offers hospice and palliative care to more than 19,000 patients and families daily in 14 states and the District of Columbia, Westfall joins two dozen other executives from hospice and palliative care providers and healthcare organizations throughout the nation.

“I am honored to serve the NHPCO and the hospice profession,” said Westfall. “I am committed to ensuring that all hospice providers, for-profit and nonprofit alike, have the necessary resources to increase quality and improve patient and family experience and that, as an industry, we have a stronger voice in the legislative and regulatory affairs that affect all of us. The future of healthcare is bringing healthcare closer to wherever the patient calls home; where hospice and palliative care has already been for over forty years.”

Edo Banach, president and CEO of NHPCO, welcomed Westfall among the diverse and dedicated professionals “who are committed to ensuring access to high-quality interdisciplinary care that is offered by hospice and community-based palliative care programs.”

Westfall joined VITAS in 2012 to lead the company’s field operations, becoming chief operating officer in 2015 and president and CEO in 2016. He previously was director of information and technology and operations for Chemed Corporation (NYSE: CHE), the parent company of VITAS. Prior to Chemed, he was a senior manager at Deloitte and Touche LLP.

During Westfall’s VITAS tenure, the number of patients served annually has increased over 12%. He has overseen the company’s mobile healthcare technology initiative, a multi-year reinvestment strategy focused on sustainable growth, and provided leadership during times of crisis, including through the Texas and Florida hurricanes and California wildfires that required emergency preparedness strategies to provide 24/7 care to hospice patients and their families.

Westfall is a member of the Advisory Board to Programs in Health Management and Policy at the University of Miami Business School and a board member The Coalition to Transform Advanced Care (CTAC). In 2018, he received a CEO Today Healthcare Award.

Westfall earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Dayton in Ohio and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.