Dr. Aparna Gupta Joins NHPCO from UnitedHealth Group.
The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) announced on January 27, 2022, that it has hired a new Vice President of Quality, Dr. Aparna Gupta, DNP, FACHE, CPHQ, CRNP. Gupta, who will start with NHPCO next month, most recently served as Vice President of Clinical Operations, Bundled Payment Solutions, Medicare, and Retirement for UnitedHealth Group (UHG). Prior to joining UHG, Gupta served as Director of Quality, Safety, and Value for the Allegheny Health Network (AHN). Gupta is a board-certified nurse practitioner with more than 20 years of health care leadership experience spanning quality improvement, health care operations, executive leadership, acute care, ageing, complex disease management, clinical services, and implementation of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) programs.
NHPCO President and CEO Edo Banach said, “Delivering high-quality care is the cornerstone of any successful hospice or palliative care program, and NHPCO is the leader in supporting providers for continuous quality improvement. With Dr. Gupta leading our Quality programs, I know NHPCO will continue to grow participation in programs like Quality Connections, ensuring that providers across the country are able to deliver better and better services for patients and their families.”
Gupta said, “I look forward to working with the hospice and palliative care communities to improve the quality of patient care. With more than 20 years of health care experience on both the provider side and the payer side, I have a passion for programs that create incentives to reduce costs while increasing quality of care. I admire NHPCO’s focus on quality as essential in serious illness and end-of-life care, and I look forward to supporting the organization as it continues to lead person-centered care.”
Prior to her roles with UHG and AHN, Gupta served as a consultant leading an initiative for 34 hospitals and health systems across Pennsylvania to reduce sepsis-related hospital admissions by working across the continuum of care to reduce gaps that lead to sepsis. She previously served as a Senior Nurse Practitioner with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, as well as a Registered Nurse and Charge RN at two hospitals in Colorado.
As part of her doctoral work, Gupta successfully implemented an evidence-base collaborative depression care management protocol in a primary care practice, improving mental health screening and interdisciplinary team-based care for populations with complex health conditions. Gupta has been an active leader in several professional organizations, including serving as President of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Gerontological Advanced Practice Nurses Association. Gupta’s focus on outcomes-driven care delivery has led to significant improvements in value-based outcomes across complex and high-risk populations. As a health care quality expert, Dr. Gupta has been invited to speak on topics such as social risk, sepsis readmissions, managing the ageing continuum, and integration of mental health in primary care at events including the Institute of Healthcare Improvement Annual Forum. Gupta has led Transforming Care at the Bedside Teams (TCAB) and served as a master trainer for Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) projects. Her years of delivering high-quality health care have resulted in the achievement of Fellow status with the American College of Healthcare Executives. In her free time, she enjoys reading, traveling, volunteering, and spending time with her family and her four-year-old Bichon.
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