VITAS Healthcare CEO to summit attendees: Health care needs evolution, not ‘fixing’
Health care executive Nick Westfall challenged industry leaders to embrace continuous evolution rather than seek one-time solutions to the state’s and country’s health care challenges.
“While the system is broken, there’s always this theme, ‘Let’s go about and fix it,’” he said. “I don’t like that comment, because fixing it implies that there’s an end to it. It’s going to constantly evolve, and the needs of our communities constantly evolve. We need to embrace that.”
Westfall, chairman and CEO of Miami-based VITAS Healthcare, delivered the keynote address during the 2025 Business of Healthcare Summit last week at Florida State University. VITAS Healthcare, the nation’s largest independent hospice and palliative care provider, served as the presenting sponsor of the second annual event, an enterprise of the FSU College of Business and an extension of the university’s FSU Health initiative.
The summit filled the Augustus B. Turnbull III Florida State Conference Center with about 260 attendees, mirroring the sellout at last year’s inaugural event. Attendees included health care executives, government officials, nonprofit leaders, university officials, faculty members and MBA and undergraduate student volunteers who served as FSU ambassadors.
Four panels of experts answered questions and discussed urgent topics such as costs, accessibility, financing, automation, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, provider shortages and quality of care.
‘It takes partnerships’
“Health care is personal,” FSU President Richard McCullough told attendees. “It touches every one of us, our families, our lives, our communities and we take this responsibility incredibly seriously.”
McCullough emphasized the university’s and FSU Health’s commitment to improving regional health care through academic health initiatives. Plans include construction of an acute-care hospital in Panama City Beach, announced last month, and an emerging academic health center on the Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare campus, set to open in 2026.
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