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

Apply Now for the 2025 Circle of Life Award

Is your program or organization providing effective, equitable and patient- and family-centered palliative or end-of-life care? We invite you to apply for the 2025 Circle of Life Award.

Download the 2025 application

One of health care’s highest honors, the Circle of Life Award celebrates innovation in palliative and end-of-life care and seeks to provide best practices and models for the field. Programs/organizations that are making progress as shown in metrics and current data deserve to be recognized.

Up to three Circle of Life Awards will be presented; the Award Committee also may present Citations of Honor to other noteworthy programs. The awards will be presented at the 2025 AHA Leadership Summit, July 20-2022, 2025, in Nashville. Applications are due midnight Central Time, Wednesday, July 24, 2024.

Contact circleoflife@aha.org with questions.

2025 Circle of Life Award Sponsors

Major sponsors of the 2025 awards are the American Hospital Association and the Catholic Health Association. The awards are cosponsored by the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, the Center to Advance Palliative Care, the Hospice & Palliative Nurses Association/the Hospice & Palliative Credentialing Center/the Hospice & Palliative Nurses Foundation, and the National Association of Social Workers.

2023 Circle of Life Award Recipients Announced

2023 AHA Circle of Life Award honorees receive their awards at the AHA Leadership Summit.

2023 Circle of Life honorees receive their awards at the AHA Leadership Summit.

Congratulations to 2023 Circle of Life Award winners Center for Hospice Care, Mishawaka, Ind., and the Palliative Care Program at Johns Hopkins Bayview, Baltimore, and to Citation of Honor recipient Prospero Health. This year’s honorees were recognized at the AHA Leadership Summit in Seattle.

To learn more about the winners and Citation of Honor recipient, please read the honoree booklet or watch the celebratory video.

About the Award

Readiness

How do you know if your organization is ready to apply for a Circle of Life Award?

An innovative palliative or end-of-life care provider that is measuring and evaluating the impact of its work on patients, family, and/or the community is ready to apply for a Circle of Life award.

Honorees typically are:

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 health care organizations and practitioners, and initiatives within long-term care facilities.

Please contact circleoflife@aha.org with questions.

Major sponsors of the 2024 Circle of Life Awards: Celebrating Innovation in Palliative and End-of-Life Care are the American Hospital Association, the Catholic Health Association, and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. The awards are cosponsored by the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, the Center to Advance Palliative Care, the Hospice & Palliative Nurses Association/the Hospice & Palliative Credentialing Center/the Hospice & Palliative Nurses Foundation and the National Association of Social Workers.