The Schwartz Center’s contracts are structured based on the number of teams supporting the Schwartz Rounds program(s) in the contracting organization. Normally, the Schwartz Center defines a Schwartz Rounds team as five individuals, with a Clinical Leader, Program Coordinator (Administrator), and three Facilitators as the recommended roles.

The Point of Care Foundation operated a system where sites were charged different rates based on the number of FTEs within the organization. The Schwartz Center charges per Schwartz Rounds team, making pricing more consistent.

Normally, the Schwartz Center defines a Schwartz Rounds team as five individuals, with a Clinical Leader, Program Coordinator (Administrator), and three Facilitators as the recommended roles.

Experience shows that the five-person team model works well across most contexts. It ensures the work of administration and facilitation is shared and manageable, whilst also allowing facilitators to practice regularly, which is important for developing facilitation skills and expertise. Standardizing this model enables us to plan trainings strategically, ensuring that our community has access to sufficient support on a sustainable basis.

After your Point of Care contract has expired, your Schwartz Center contract has been signed, and payment has been received, the Schwartz Center will reach out to review your organization’s contact list and ask you to identify specific roles. This helps us reach the right people on the team with relevant information (see below for more on this).  For example, you would assign your team administrator to the role of ”Program Coordinator”. Since this information has changed for many UK and Ireland sites over time, there is a need to refresh this data as teams join the Schwartz Center’s community.

We recognize there are organizations where more than five people are involved in the Schwartz Rounds teams. We are not requiring that you remove people from your team or ask trained facilitators to stop practicing. However, we do still need you to assign individual roles to support more effective communication. As turnover naturally occurs on the team, please contact your site’s mentor.

The Schwartz Center strives to deliver agreements via email at least 8 weeks ahead of your organization’s contract renewal date. We are currently working with our lawyers to establish the contract necessary for United Kingdom and Ireland compliance purposes. The contracts will be delivered for review as soon as they are available. Schwartz Rounds programs may continue to operate normally after contract expiration, provided renewal is actively being pursued in good faith.

Yes, please email community@theschwartzcenter.org.

The Schwartz Center agreement provides access to an expanded portfolio of offerings including:

• Unlimited mentor hours
• Access to asynchronous training content for all team members
• A comprehensive resource library that is regularly updated with new materials
• Global Community of Practice Sessions
• Global Community Schwartz Rounds sessions
• Peer learning opportunities and more

For full details, please refer to the cover letter included with your site’s transfer agreement from December 2025.

Yes, please email community@theschwartzcenter.org. We are striving to respond as quickly as possible to all requests.

We are available to work through any questions about pricing together. Please email community@theschwartzcenter.org.

Schwartz Center contracts are yearly agreements that automatically renew at the end of each cycle and are invoiced annually. Our team is happy to accommodate requests for alternative contract lengths and invoice periods based on your organization’s policies. Please email those requests to community@theschwartzcenter.org.

The Schwartz Center fees do not include VAT, which will need to be paid by your organization to HMRC.

The Schwartz Center does not offer refunds for license fees or training fees. If needed, we will work with you to transfer training places to another colleague.

We are working closely with the mentor team to develop new templates to support the business case. Our goal is to make these documents available to sites during the second quarter of 2026.

In the meantime, your mentor and our operations team are eager to support you during this process. We have several resources currently available for your use:

• Summary of the 100 research studies that have demonstrated the benefit of the Schwartz Rounds program
• How the Schwartz Rounds program connects compassion with today’s healthcare improvement
• The case for compassion as a core component of healthcare delivery

Please reach out to your site’s mentor if other business case support is needed.

In the communication that accompanied the transfer agreements in December 2025, we noted that five training places for the Schwartz Rounds Leadership Team are included in your fee.

As stated in your initial transfer notice, these five training seats are available after your current Point of Care Foundation contract expires, your organization enters into the Schwartz Center program agreement, and the initial fee payment has been received.

These five seats are a one-time transition benefit and must be used within one year from becoming a Schwartz Center partner. All seats used by a partner organization must be used as part of a single training cohort. Seats may be used by existing team members, or by new additions to the team. Completing training together helps strengthen the team’s shared understanding of the program and allows us to support teams more effectively. See below for more information on Schwartz Center training.  

Your Schwartz Center partnership start date will be determined by when your current Point of Care Foundation contract expires, your organization enters into the Schwartz Center program agreement, and the initial fee payment has been received. This date will be shared with your organization after these three steps are complete.

The Schwartz Center’s training model is different from that of the Point of Care Foundation. Teams joining the Schwartz Center community go through training as a cohort – experiencing the training with their colleagues and with other teams joining the community at the same time. We have found this to be an effective and nurturing learning environment.

 
The Schwartz Center’s cohort-based training program combines self-paced online courses through the Schwartz Center’s Learning Center with live virtual meetings led by Schwartz Center program experts. This blended approach ensures successful Schwartz Rounds program implementation (see the Training section for more details). In addition, each site may send one team member from their Schwartz Rounds Leadership Team to each Advanced Training session.

Each site receives one complimentary seat per Advanced Training. Only members of the site’s Schwartz Rounds Leadership Team are eligible to attend. The Advanced Trainings aim to equip Facilitators with the mindset and tools necessary to guide Schwartz Rounds sessions from a place of greater self-awareness and presence. These 8-hour trainings are for experienced Schwartz Rounds Facilitators (facilitated or co-facilitated at least six sessions) and those who have completed the Virtual Facilitation Workshop.

No, there is no requirement to change your Schwartz Rounds team. You will still be able to maintain your existing Schwartz Rounds team. However, please allocate at least five people to the designated roles so that we can ensure people are receiving the correct communications.

Yes, you will receive five training seats in the Schwartz Center’s training program. Since your team has already been trained by the Point of Care Foundation, your team can decide how to use these places. They can be used by existing members of your team to strengthen their skills or allocated to new facilitators, or a combination of both. Please contact us at community@theschwartzcenter.org for more information.

We’ve decided to align with our other existing sites and not to operate a purchase system for our partners in the U.K. and Ireland. Rather than offer a training seat purchasing option, we decided it is more equitable for U.K. and Ireland sites to receive five seats and for us to provide ongoing training support on the basis of a five-person team. This helps ensure equitable training is available for all sites, and will also help to limit U.K. and Ireland sites’ costs in the future.

If an individual leaves your organization or steps down from one of the five key roles within your Schwartz Rounds Leadership Team, their successor will receive complimentary implementation training using the online asynchronous Schwartz Rounds coursework and access to trainings and workshops. They can also reach out to their mentor for one-on-one assistance.

Schwartz Rounds onboarding is a comprehensive, step-by-step program designed to support partners to launch and sustain a high-quality Schwartz Rounds program with confidence and impact. New partner sites begin as part of a training cohort, starting with a kick-off meeting led by the Center’s training specialist.

From there, teams complete self-paced online coursework covering the foundations of administering a Schwartz Rounds program, along with facilitation best practices. As they prepare for their first Schwartz Rounds session, teams participate in structured planning, working closely with their assigned mentor to refine their approach and receive targeted feedback.

Mentors participate in steering group meetings, observe the first Schwartz Rounds session, and provide detailed feedback to support ongoing growth. Mentors walk alongside partners throughout their entire relationship with the Center.

For existing sites that are welcoming new facilitators, the Schwartz Center encourages participation in the online coursework followed by direct coaching from their mentor. Once this introductory work is complete, facilitators are also welcome to participate in the Center’s live workshops to strengthen their facilitation skills and learn best practices.

No, Schwartz Center training is not required for transferring sites. Each site will receive the five training seats that other new sites receive, but for sites transferring into our community, these can be used for current or new facilitators. The Schwartz Center requires training for all new partners who are implementing the Schwartz Rounds program for the first time as a team.

The Schwartz Center and Point of Care Foundation have more than 40 years of combined experience in developing and implementing high-quality Schwartz Rounds training. Over the coming months, the Center will carefully analyze both training programs and develop a new global curriculum for use by partners worldwide.

Our goal is to create a longitudinal training ecosystem that offers regular and continuous professional development for your organization, with a particular focus on facilitators.

We anticipate piloting elements of this new training program later in 2026 with a progressive rollout through 2027. Day 1 and Day 2 facilitator trainings, as previously delivered by the Point of Care Foundation, will continue to be offered during this time. As the new unified training program rolls out, the current Day 1 and Day 2 offerings will be phased out by June 2027.

This exciting undertaking is still in its early stages; there will be opportunities for you to help shape this through your feedback to ensure it meets your needs.

Training dates are as follows:

To ensure optimal experience for participants, the number of seats available per date is capped. Individuals who previously completed Day 1 training and are awaiting Day 2 training should have received an email from the Center with further instructions. If you are anticipating Day 2 and have not received these instructions, please email community@theschwartzcenter.org. The Schwartz Center may add additional virtual training options based on demand.

The Schwartz Center is actively developing training pathways for 2027 and beyond. The final Day 2 training will be held in June 2027.

The new training program will offer additional live training opportunities and will expand the current volume of training content available across the community. All sites with Day 1 and Day 2 training seats will have the opportunity to complete Day 1 and Day 2 trainings prior to full implementation of the new training program. Please note that the final day 2 training opportunity will be held in June 2027. 

All organizations that purchased additional training seats have been emailed by the Schwartz Center. The final Day 2 training will be held in June 2027. Should you have additional questions, please email community@theschwartzcenter.org.

We deeply appreciate the vital role that facilitators play in leading successful and impactful Schwartz Rounds sessions. We are working to ensure access to high-quality training during this transition period.

• Organizations operating under the existing Point of Care Foundation contracts have the opportunity to request additional Day 1 / Day 2 facilitator training seats at the established cost of £900. The Schwartz Center will make every effort to ensure a Day 1 / Day 2 training spot is available for newly purchased seats within the existing contract period. To purchase additional training seats, email community@theschwartzcenter.org.
• Organizations that have renewed their contracts will be operating under their new Schwartz Center contracts. See earlier in this FAQ for details on available training.
• The Schwartz Center will honor all previously purchased Day 1 and Day 2 training places until June 2027. The final Day 2 training will be held in June 2027.
• We encourage organizations to make training decisions based on how quickly new facilitators are needed, overall budget availability, and internal timeline needed for expensing the training.

For additional questions related to new training seats, email community@theschwartzcenter.org.

If your site has not heard from your mentor, please email community@theschwartzcenter.org. Note that this communication may have come from your mentor’s personal email address while we are in the process of setting up official Schwartz Center email addresses for the mentor team.

We recognize that community members are currently receiving a high volume of emails. As we migrate UK and Ireland site data into our systems, we’ve discovered that contact information has often changed, and individuals’ roles no longer align with our segmentation structure. We’d like to use this opportunity to refresh each site’s contacts, which will allow us to send targeted information to the relevant team members.

Over the next few months, we’ll be reaching out to confirm your program team members and identify roles. This process will help us create a better-targeted mailing list over time. In the interim, sites may continue receiving messages to all contacts. Thank you for your patience.

If there is someone at your organization who should not receive any communications from us, please let us know at community@theschwartzcenter.org.