2025 IMPACT REPORT
BRINGING OUR bold vision TO LIFE
Annual Reports
The annual reports highlights NCH’s remarkable achievements over the past year, showcasing its commitment to advancing healthcare in Southwest Florida. Notable milestones include the opening of the Judith & Marvin Herb Family Simulation Center, recognized as one of the nation’s top 35 facilities for immersive medical training, and the approval of a $200 million heart and stroke center expansion on the Downtown campus. NCH earned prestigious accolades such as the Pathway to Excellence recognition for nursing, the Joint Commission Gold Seal for Comprehensive Stroke Center Accreditation, and several Healthgrades awards for excellence in stroke, spine, and pulmonary care. The organization also celebrated groundbreaking innovations, including being the first in the region to implement advanced procedures and technologies for stroke recovery and cardiac care. With the establishment of new programs, facilities, and leadership roles, NCH reinforced its mission to provide exceptional patient outcomes and lead medical advancements, driven by strategic partnerships, cutting-edge research, and the generous support of the community.
A note from our CEO
Our community established Naples Comprehensive Health (NCH) to deliver quality care close to home. How NCH accomplishes that mission evolved, but, 70 years later, our commitment to world-class care for Southwest Florida and beyond is stronger than ever.
As I look back on the past year, I am exceptionally proud of the tangible ways our vision of NCH’s evolution into an Advanced Community Healthcare System™ is coming to fruition. Five years ago, we aspired to be recognized by Healthgrades® as one of America’s 50 Best HospitalsTM. This year, we not only received that designation—putting us in the top 1% of all U.S. hospitals for overall care excellence—NCH was the only hospital to achieve Healthgrades’ highest recognition in three critical areas: Cardiac Care, Orthopedic Surgery, and Overall Clinical Excellence.
Because clinical excellence flourishes when paired with state-of-the-art facilities, we were proud to open the Patty and Jay Baker Pavilion at HSS at NCH, an orthopedic center of excellence. We broke ground on the R.M. Schulze Family Heart and Stroke Critical Care Center where we will bring together the complex specialties of cardiac and vascular care for enhanced outcomes for our patients. To better serve patients facing cancer, we established a partnership with Northwestern Medicine and its renowned comprehensive cancer program and opened the new Jim and Fran McGlothlin Outpatient Infusion Center. All of these advances are made possible by generous philanthropy. At NCH, 98 cents of every dollar gifted goes directly to our mission, marking NCH in the top 1% of charities nationwide for efficiency and efficacy.
Quality, compassionate care is the hallmark of NCH. And in more and more cases, it’s cutting-edge care that leverages game-changing procedures and technology that give our patients access to the most innovative care. The list of firsts, bests and onlys grows as our top-tier team pushes boundaries to deliver groundbreaking techniques that transform diagnostics, treatments and outcomes.
We are grateful to the donors, partners, physicians and team members who have invested in our forward thinking so that we can be forward doing. Our dedication to bold advances has even bolder results, and I’m proud to share those accomplishments with you.
NCH PRESIDENT + CEO
DIANA & DONALD WINGARD
CHAIR IN EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP
Helping everyone live a longer, happier, and healthier life
Be a world-class leader of excellence in healthcare
Excellence in every patient experience
Accolades that distinguish our
standard-setting care
As a testament to the transformation into an Advanced Community Healthcare SystemTM with exceptional comprehensive care, NCH earned accolades for care and organizational excellence across the system. These awards and recognition affirm that our remarkable patient-centered healthcare is resulting in premier, quality care you can trust.
America’s 50 Best Hospitals Award™ from Healthgrades and the nation’s only hospital to earn top honors in Cardiac, Orthopedic Surgery and Overall Clinical Excellence
3-star isolated aortic valve replacement (AVR)
3-stars isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG)
3-stars multiprocedural composite quality ranking
List of America’s Best-in-State Employers
Paul Hiltz named among Top 2025 CEO Influencers
Get with the Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus Achievement Award
Silver Level Achievement Award
Joint Commission Gold Seal of Approval® for Comprehensive Stroke Center Accreditation
American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) Level Two Geriatric Emergency Department Accreditation, one of only three in Florida
Professional Research Consultants (PRC) Awards for Outstanding Culture and Overall Quality of Care for Marco Island Immediate Care
ANCC Pathway Designation
AACN Silver Beacon of Excellence
Groundbreaking facilities for
groundbreaking care
As our care transforms to meet the needs of our growing community, so does our footprint. From main campus additions to expanded access within our service area, NCH is adding state-of-the-art facilities to support next-level care.
HSS at NCH opened the new three-story, 120,000-square-foot Patty & Jay Baker Pavilion that brings the expertise of the U.S. News & World Report top-ranked orthopedic care in the nation to Southwest Florida. Ten operating rooms, 29 recovery bays, 23 dedicated treatment rooms and The Kapnick Foundation Ambulatory Surgery Center—an elite outpatient musculoskeletal surgery center—enable the 11 HSS at NCH physicians to deliver seamless care from diagnosis to rehabilitation under one roof. It is equipped with the latest technology offering minimally invasive procedures, sophisticated imaging and diagnostics and purposefully designed rehabilitation spaces that include a fully equipped gym, to bring transformative orthopedic care to the region.
In support of our world-class cardiac, stroke and vascular care, NCH broke ground last year on the R.M. Schulze Family Heart and Stroke Critical Care Center. The $295 million facility will revolutionize the patient experience by unifying complex and specialized interrelated care on the NCH Baker Hospital Campus. This focus will accelerate the capacity of our team to offer more innovative, pioneering life-saving diagnostics and treatments in an environment built for speed and collaboration when it matters most. Generous contributions from the community to date include the Cardiac Imaging Wing made possible by a $10 million gift from Dawn and Pete Irving and the Catheterization Innovation Suites via a $10 million gift from Patty and Jay Baker. Designed to rival leading programs across the country, it’s set to position NCH as a destination for top-tier cardiac care.
Making way for the iconic center necessitated the move of NCH’s Outpatient Infusion Center. Made possible through a generous foundational gift, the Jim and Fran McGlothlin Outpatient Infusion Center expands our capacity in a modern, enhanced-comfort environment for patients receiving infusion therapy for cancer and chronic illness. It’s a step forward in our long-term vision to expand comprehensive oncology services.
Enlarging our care network, NCH introduced a 6,000-square-foot immediate care clinic to Midtown Plaza in Ave Maria to improve healthcare access in east Collier County. Staffed by board-certified emergency physicians, physician assistants and nurses who will provide treatment for non-life-threatening illnesses and injuries, the Ave Maria Immediate Care Center supports a broader strategy to address healthcare needs in the area. NCH also announced plans for a 24-hour freestanding emergency room facility that will serve emergency needs like broken bones, heart attack, stroke, severe burns, allergic reactions and more.
Defining care at nch through
first, bests, and onlys
In 2025, NCH marked its evolution into an Advanced Community Healthcare SystemTM with more milestones of pioneering procedures in Naples, Southwest Florida, the state and nation. We are trailblazers, home to diagnostics, treatments, devices and clinical trials that are shaping the future of medicine right here at NCH.
The next generation of medical professionals are also part of this bold new era at NCH. For three consecutive years, the NCH Residency Program has achieved a flawless 100% pass rate on the American Board of Internal Medicine Certification Examination, which surpasses the national average of 88%.
At the forefront of
visionary care
With greater frequency, NCH isn’t just following the best practices; it’s shaping them. NCH’s Rooney Heart Institute was the first in the country to successfully perform a cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) using the WiSE® CRT System from EBR Systems, Inc. Implanted simultaneously with a right-sided leadless pacemaker, the advanced procedure was led by Dinesh Sharma, MD, an electrophysiologist, resulting in the first patient in the country to receive a completely leadless biventricular pacing system combining the Medtronic MICRA™ device and the WiSE® CRT System. That’s just one of the revolutionary procedures now available at NCH:
highest volume site in the state for the ION™ robotic-assisted lung biopsy procedure
in the nation to perform the FDA-approved Neuroguard Integrated Embolic Protection (IEP) procedure
First in Florida to provide Pulsed Electric Field (PEF) ablation with the FDA-cleared Aliya® System, a treatment that uses high-frequency, short-duration pulsed electric fields to ablate soft tissue near tumors with unparalleled precision and allows the opportunity to treat the area at the time of biopsy.
Robert Grossman, MD, a fellowship-trained robotic surgeon at NCH, performed the first single-port (SP) transabdominal colectomy surgery in South Florida, marking a significant milestone in minimally invasive surgical care for the region.
First successful Type IV thoracoabdominal aneurysm endovascular repair using the Gore Thoracoabdominal Branch Endoprosthesis (TAMBE) device in Southwest Florida.
Bringing
breakthroughs
To southwest Florida
Advancements in technology are improving imaging, diagnostics and treatment solutions and enhancing patient outcomes. Our passion for exceptional patient care is at the heart of our innovation, inspiring ways to integrate beneficial technology. For example, doctors at the NCH Rooney Heart Institute created a trailblazing heart procedure by integrating 3D printing and virtual twin modeling to save the life of a critically ill patient. Here are other ways dynamic technology is at the forefront of care at NCH:
The Rooney Heart Institute completed a clinical trial of the Affera™ Mapping and Ablation System featuring the Sphere-9™ Catheter, technology designed to enhance the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF) and other complex cardiac arrhythmias.
Revolutionary cardiac imaging includes the nation’s first use of the CaRi-Heart®, AI-powered imaging technologies to detect heart disease and predict heart attack risk up to 10 years before symptoms appear, and the Siemens NAEOTOM Alpha Peak photon-counting CT scanner and CaRi-Plaque™.
in Florida to offer the latest next generation transcatheter Abbott MitraClip™ and TriClip™ G5 systems for patients with mitral and tricuspid regurgitation, commonly known as leaky heart valves.
orthopedic treatment and rehabilitation is supported by the Keiser pneumatic resistance system, Alter-G antigravity treadmill, Biodex Isokinetic System and Globus ExcelsiusGPS minimally invasive surgical robot system.
for exceptional expertise in the treatment of patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and emphysema using the Zephyr® Valve, a minimally invasive device developed by Pulmonx.
a strategic collaboration
Vanguard Cancer Care
To expand its Centers of Excellence, NCH brought the premier power of Northwestern Medicine and its Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University to Southwest Florida. It’s one of only two cancer Comprehensive Cancer Centers to receive the National Cancer Institute’s Merit Extension Award, continuing grant support for their work translating research into meaningful patient impact.
Through the initiative, NCH will have access to a variety of clinical resources offered by Northwestern Medicine including the ability to consult with oncology experts, refer patients for second opinions and the opportunity to leverage the latest in clinical trial offerings.
In October, NCH continued to advance cancer care with the launch of NCH Gynecologic Oncology Clinic, enhancing access to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancers of the female reproductive system. The clinic brings this critical care closer to home for women in the region and is led by Medical Director Edward Grendys, MD, and John McBroom, MD, offering 55 years of combined clinical experience and recognized leadership in minimally invasive robotic surgery and HIPEC (heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy perfusion).
Strengthened cancer care has already resulted in new facilities, landmark procedures and breakthrough technologies making a difference for patients. As noted, the Jim and Fran McGlothlin Outpatient Infusion Center represent an expanded space for critical chemotherapy treatments. NCH was the first in Florida to use the groundbreaking Van Gogh biopsy tool from Aquyre Biosciences that leverages real-time optical imaging to evaluate tissue for cancer with exceptional precision to accelerate diagnosis. We also pioneered the Pulsed Electric Field (PEF) ablation, a first in the state for the innovative treatment for patients with tumors.
Nearly 40% of Americans will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. At NCH, we’re preparing to identify it faster and treat it more effectively than ever.
The heart of nch:
our people
In order to pursue our mission, we cultivate an exemplary culture where our people are supported and recognized for their remarkable contributions to patient care. We are proud of the advancements made in ensuring that NCH is a place where top physicians, clinicians and support team members can contribute their best to our patients.
In 2025, Forbes included NCH on its America’s Best In-State Employers list. Based on evaluations given directly by employees and public evaluations given by friends and family members of employees working in the same industry, the recognition reflects the voice of our people and excellence against the industry standard. NCH was also recognized by PRC (Professional Research Consultants) at the annual PRC Healthcare Summit with its Healthcare Leadership Award for Outstanding Culture. Marked by an environment that fosters collaboration, continuous improvement and a patient centered approach, this award highlights the NCH commitment to our employees. That was further reinforced with the American Medical Association’s (AMA) prestigious Bronze-Level Recognition as a Joy in Medicine™ Health Organization, one that prioritizes proven effort to enhance well-being and professional fulfillment for physicians,
In 2025, NCH invested more than $625,000 in educational benefits to full and part time employees, supporting 150 team members in beginning, continuing or completing their educational and professional development goals. To date in 2026, we have distributed almost $200,000 through the Education Empowerment Program and hope to increase the impact of these opportunities as the program grows.
Leading medical Professionals
join NCH
Thomas Caranasos, MD
Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery and VP of NCH Rooney Heart Institute James and Jaimie Yeh Endowed Chair
Ed Grendys, MD
Gynecologic Oncologist
Medical Director of Brynee and Bob Coletti Women’s Cancer Program
James Kinderknecht, MD
Non-Operative Sports Medicine
Joseph Lamelas, MD
Cardiothoracic Surgeon
Pioneer of Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery
Dee Dee Wang, MD
Cardiologist
Section Head of Cardiac Imaging at NCH Rooney Heart Institute
Giving back and community impact
earning investment
As an independent, nonprofit institution, we rely on the generous support of donors and philanthropists to strengthen access to first-rate care in our community. As a mission-driven pillar of the community, we take our responsibility to ensure the health of our neighbors to heart.
This year, NCH provided nearly $70 million in total community benefit which includes charity care and other uncompensated services such as free health screenings, education, and other free community programs, ensuring that everyone can receive the care they need to live longer, healthier, happier lives.
Donor impact
above & beyond
In the face of Hurricane Milton, we coordinated an immediate strategic disaster response. When Medicare Advantage coverage changes eliminated access to primary care providers, we held an open house outreach to assist those affected. The Judith & Marvin Herb Family Simulation Center continued to be an invaluable community resource, administrating over 20,000 training hours to more than 5,000 medical professionals and community members.
10th Annual Collier County Sheriff’s Office Santa Ride & Toy Drive collected hundreds toys to brighten the holiday for children in need.
98 cents of every dollar gifted to NCH went directly to our mission, marking NCH in the top 1% of charities nationwide for efficiency and efficacy.
at NCH’s annual ball, supporting retention, recognition, and recruitment of nurses
(formerly Guidestar) awarded to NCH, signifying the highest level of nonprofit transparency and accountability
