BJC HealthCare Announces New Name for Palliative and Supportive Care Institute, Investing in the Future of Serious Illness and End-of-Life Care

The demand for specialized serious illness and end-of-life care continues to grow as our population ages and more people live longer with complex chronic conditions. As nearly 20 percent of the U.S. population are now baby boomers, the need for high-quality palliative and hospice care has never been greater.

To meet this growing need, BJC Health recently made a significant investment through The Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital to broaden its impact in palliative and hospice care by naming the Liekweg Family Palliative and Supportive Care Institute at BJC HealthCare in honor of Richard J. Liekweg, who retired as BJC’s CEO in 2025, his wife, Stacey, and their daughter, Caroline. While Rich’s leadership helped shape BJC’s growth and impact over many years, he did not lead alone. Stacey and Caroline provided the love, support, and partnership that sustained him throughout his service.

The Institute’s name also recognizes the Liekweg family’s shared commitment to compassionate care, including palliative, hospice and end-of-life care — work that has long been deeply meaningful to all three of the Liekweg family members.

“We are pleased to honor Rich Liekweg’s leadership by investing to accelerate the institute's growth, research, and clinical impact for patients and families facing serious illness,” says Nick Barto, BJC Health president and CEO. “Rich’s passion for and commitment to palliative and hospice care helped establish the BJC Palliative and Supportive Care Institute in 2019 through a collaboration among WashU Medicine, BJC HealthCare, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, and The Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital. This investment will help carry that vision forward.”

Advancing a Vision for Compassionate Care, Patient-Centered Care

Palliative care focuses on managing complex symptoms that can be received alongside treatment at any stage of the disease. Palliative care also includes hospice care, which provides specialized physical, emotional, and spiritual care in the final months of life. It is focused on comfort and enhancing quality of life rather than curative treatment. BJC is the largest provider of hospice care in the region.

One of Liekweg's significant accomplishments was elevating palliative and hospice care as a strategic priority across BJC. Under Liekweg’s leadership, BJC unified its eight hospital palliative care programs and integrated the organizational structure with WashU Medicine.  

Liekweg’s commitment to advancing palliative care was shaped not only by his leadership experience, but also personal experience navigating serious illness within his own family. 

“During my brother’s end-of-life journey at a hospital in another part of the country, I learned firsthand the importance of palliative and hospice care, as well as the challenges a health system can face in delivering that care effectively,” Liekweg says.

Rich was approached shortly thereafter in 2012 by Pat and Aja Stokes, philanthropists who recently had a similar experience in another country. They inquired about what end-of-life care looks like in the U.S., but more specifically what BJC HealthCare offers. These two experiences fueled Liekweg’s determination to ensure all patients and families across BJC have access to this specialized care, along with timely communication, compassion, and support when facing serious illness.

“I’m proud of BJC’s commitment to advance palliative and hospice care, and my family and I are honored to have our name connected to this important work,” Liekweg says. “BJC has the expertise, leadership, infrastructure, and passion to continue to revolutionize end-of-life care for people within the St. Louis region and across the nation.”

Elevating the Standard for Palliative and Hospice Care

While serving as president, Liekweg galvanized efforts between BJC and the philanthropic community leaders to create Evelyn’s House in 2017, the first BJC hospice house on the campus of Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital. Since opening, Evelyn's House has become a nationally recognized model for hospice care and demonstrated the transformative impact of specialized end-of life services on patients and families.

It also revealed the need to establish the BJC Palliative and Supportive Care Institute and the Division of Palliative Medicine at WashU Medicine in 2019.

That same year, Patrick White, MD, PhD, was named a WashU Medicine palliative medicine physician and the inaugural Stokes Family Endowed Chair in Palliative Medicine and Supportive Care, a position made possible by the generosity of the Stokes Family. They were also among the philanthropic leaders who initiated the drive to create Evelyn’s House. Additionally, Dr. White is also BJC Home Care chief medical officer.

Since its founding, the Institute has emerged as a national leader in palliative medicine, translating research, education, and clinical innovation into measurable improvements in patient care. Dr. White and his team have expanded hospice care knowledge and services both locally and nationally. Through the Institute, research conducted at Evelyn’s House has led to a new national standard of care for nausea in hospice patients that is helping tens of thousands of people each year.

Donor-supported research has also led to the development of artificial intelligence-enabled tools that help clinicians identify patients who may benefit from hospice care earlier, enabling more timely support, and improved care planning. In 2025, Dr. White represented BJC and WashU Medicine to present these findings to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Grand Rounds. This group oversees insurance programs providing health care to over 100 million Americans and helps guide national health policy.

Expanding on Success

BJC’s new investment in the Liekweg Family Palliative and Supportive Care Institute builds on previous accomplishments. Since the Institute was founded, palliative care has grown across BJC and WashU Medicine from seven adult clinical providers in 2017 to 37 in 2025. The team now includes five research faculty as well. This growth has dramatically expanded access to specialized palliative care services while strengthening the Institute's ability to deliver care, conduct research, and educate future clinicians.

Donor support for the Institute through The Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital provided pilot funding for an initiative that helps physicians identify patients in the hospital who are nearing the end of life, but who are still able to have conversations about their care goals. The initiative includes training for physicians on how to provide personalized, compassionate counseling to high-risk patients. These efforts have dramatically increased the number of important end-of-life discussions that doctors have with patients and families. These goals-of-care discussions increased 540% from 2020 to 2024, and the work is ongoing.

Enhancing support through these life transitions has led to more than 95% of families rating end-of-life care for their loved ones as excellent at Evelyn’s House over the past five years.

With BJC’s renewed investment, the Liekweg Family Palliative and Supportive Care Institute will accelerate its mission through five pillars: clinical innovation, research, education, advocacy, and community engagement.

Highlights of the Institute’s goals include:

• Ensuring timely, equitable access to palliative care across all settings, including hospital, home, hospice, and long-term care

• Generating innovative evidence-based research, practical tools, and support for patients and caregivers

• Raising standards of compassionate, culturally competent, and effective conversations about goals of care, prognosis, and advance care planning

• Advocating for patients and families with legislators, regulators, and payers to increase understanding and support for high-quality end-of-life care

• Continuing to integrate health care, social work, chaplains, expressive therapy, and music therapy to improve quality of life for patients

• Collaborating with partners to build a pipeline of well-prepared practitioners educated about patients’ special end-of-life needs

“Despite the proven benefits of palliative care, significant opportunities remain to continue to expand this support,” Dr. White says. “BJC’s investment in the Liekweg Family Palliative and Supportive Care Institute will allow us to broaden palliative care’s impact and redefine the standard of serious illness care as national leaders in palliative medicine. We’re grateful for Rich Liekweg’s leadership that has positioned us to change the narrative around palliative and end-of-life care across the country.”