Dombi Scholarship Established

TAMPA, Florida—The National Alliance for Care at Home and its legacy organization have established a scholarship fund in honor of retiring National Association for Homecare and Hospice (NAHC) President Bill Dombi, leaders announced Monday at the organization’s transitional conference in Tampa, Florida.

The William A. Dombi Scholarship Fund at the University of Connecticut, Dombi’s alma mater, topped its initial fundraising goal of $50,000 and was on the way to $100,00, said Marcylle Combs, a NAHC board member who organized the gift. NAHC and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) merged this year to create the new Alliance, which hosted the Home Care and Hospice Conference and Expo that began Sunday in Tampa. The 2025 conference will be held Saturday, Nov. 2 through Monday, Nov. 4 in New Orleans, Louisiana, but organization officials said that they were still working out details about how other NAHC and NHPCO events might be combined next year.

“It has been a distinct privilege and pleasure to work with all of you,” Dombi said after the announcement was made. “You are part of the family, as well.”

The scholarship, which is taking additional contributions here, will be awarded to incoming or continuing undergraduates majoring in political science at the University of Connecticut, with a priority for those focused on public policy and/or health care policy.

The scholarship announcement followed a moving video send-off to Dombi, who has been with NAHC since 1987, when he came aboard as lead counsel and helmed the landmark lawsuit that reformed the Medicare home health services benefit. (Read his retirement interview with HomeCare here.)

“He is a bulldog for the industry,” said Rod Windley, chairman of the board at Aveanna Healthcare and a founding member of NAHC’s board.  

Speakers also acknowledged Dombi’s role in rebuilding the organization as “NAHC 2.0” in the 1990s and helping shape the future of home-based care.

“Bill is a person that’s always looking forward,” said Denise Schrader, vice president for Mosaic Life Care. “That’s why I call him transformative.”

And they credited him for helping get the industry through the COVID-19 pandemic, pushing for personal protective equipment and other assistance for in-home care workers, including lobbying to allow non-physicians to certify for home health.

“Without Bill’s leadership, I truly believe the outcome of the pandemic would have been very different for home health,” said Mary Myers, retired president and CEO of Johns Hopkins Home Care Group and a member of the NAHC/NHPCO transition board.

The new organization, generally referred to as “the Alliance,” will bring the voice of the two legacy organizations and plans to highlight the patient and family perspective in order to advocate for home health in Washington and beyond, said Alliance CEO Dr. Steve Landers. During the conference, Landers published an opinion piece online highlighting recent research—including a study done by United Health Care’s Optum division—that indicates lack of access to home health care severely impacts patient mortality.

“This is a life or death issue,” he said.