Reaching a 20-year milestone is significant for any healthcare organization. Doing so while reshaping a business model, expanding across 33 states, and caring for more than 180,000 patients each year is something else entirely.
Few leaders have witnessed that transformation as closely as Laura Templeton, Chief Operating Officer. Laura, a nurse by background, joined Compassus in 2012. She’s held leadership roles spanning operations, strategy, partnerships, and clinical care, helping Compassus transform into a national home-based care organization serving communities across the country. “When I started with Compassus almost 14 years ago, we were only in nine states and cared for 2,500 hospice patients.”
As Compassus enters its third decade, demand for home-based care continues to grow and healthcare providers must deliver more coordinated experiences outside traditional care settings. Originally founded as a hospice provider in 2006, Compassus has evolved alongside the industry to offer hospice, home health, home care, community-based palliative care, and home infusion services through a workforce of more than 10,000 teammates. During Laura’s tenure, that evolution expanded the organization’s ability to support patients across more of their healthcare journey while strengthening partnerships throughout the care continuum.
For Laura, navigating change has become a defining part of leadership. Healthcare never stands still. New regulations, workforce pressures, technology, and patient expectations continually reshaping the industry. “It’s a skill and a mindset,” she says. “As a leader, I adapt to change and help others feel comfortable as they move through it.”
Expanding access
Over the past decade, Compassus has expanded both its services and its reach, driven by a belief that more patients should be able to receive care in the place they call home.
Laura sees one of Compassus’ greatest opportunities in expanding access to home-based care. “The post-acute space is underutilized.” Too many patients leave the hospital without home care, never receive hospice services, or don’t access support through private duty or infusion care. Compassus focuses on helping more people get the care they deserve and creating a smoother healthcare journey.
Meeting this need takes collaboration across healthcare organizations, providers, and communities. Health system partnerships now define Compassus’s growth strategy. These relationships improve care transitions, expand access, strengthen coordination, and benefit everyone involved, especially patients and communities.
Through joint ventures with organizations like Ascension, Bon Secours Mercy Health, OhioHealth, and Providence, Compassus brings caregivers together and focuses on culture, engagement, and development.
For Laura, strong partnerships always start with alignment. “We want to make sure we’re mission aligned. Are we trying to set the same goals? Do we have a future that we can see together? We create transparency and trust, so we can have the hard conversations that make partnerships successful.”
That same commitment to alignment shapes every decision at Compassus. Whether the conversation is about quality, compliance, workforce planning, or operations, it always starts with the same principle: placing the patient at the center. According to Laura, everything from quality care to regulatory compliance falls into place when the patient is your foundation.
Innovation with purpose
As healthcare continues to evolve, technology remains a significant area of investment for Compassus. The organization is evaluating new tools, including AI and predictive analytics, weighing each against a consistent set of questions: What are we trying to solve? Will this improve patient outcomes? Will it make experiences better for patients and families? Will it support our clinicians in delivering great care?
Frontline teammates play an active role in this process. “We value input from our frontline staff. When we find a great technology partner, we co-create solutions. Our goal is to reduce administrative burden and support our clinicians,” Laura shares.
People and purpose
Technology, partnerships, and growth all matter, but Compassus believes long-term success comes down to people. A lesson Laura learned early in her career still shapes how she approaches culture, engagement, and development.
“At first, I thought success meant strong individual results. But I soon realized personal achievements are just a pebble in a sea of opportunity. There’s so much more when you help others do their best work and become the best version of themselves.”
For a company whose caregivers spend their days in patients’ homes and communities, culture doesn’t happen by accident. It takes intentional communication, trust, and ongoing investment.
“People respond best when they feel heard, respected, and included in decisions that affect them. When you step back, engage your team, and help everyone understand the why, you create real momentum.”
Investing in people means preparing the next generation of leaders. Compassus continues to recruit, develop and retain teammates while creating opportunities to grow into leadership roles.
“I always look for people who want to learn and innovate. Good leaders build up other good leaders. I’m always thinking about who’s next so we can help them grow and develop.”
The emphasis on people reflects the values that have guided Compassus throughout its first 20 years. During the anniversary celebration, the organization is highlighting Compassion, Integrity, Excellence, Teamwork and Innovation and the role each has played in shaping its culture, strengthening partnerships and improving care for patients and families.
Looking ahead, Compassus focuses on expanding access to home-based care, strengthening coordination across the healthcare continuum, and finding new ways to improve the patient and family experience. Laura draws on both her professional and her family’s experience navigating the healthcare system, and believes reducing fragmentation is one of healthcare’s greatest opportunities.
“We look for every way to reduce fragmentation, close communication gaps, and provide alignment for patients and families so they always know what’s next.”
Twenty years after its founding, Compassus still measures success the same way: by improving the lives of patients and families and investing in the people who make that care possible.
