A New Path for Hospice Care

by | May 9, 2025 | Partner News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:        press@empathhealth.org
EmpathHealth.org

Empath Health Introduces One Hospice Model, Bringing Together Florida's Established Not-for-Profit Hospices Under One Mission

CLearwater, FL, May 5, 2025. Empath Health, one of the nation’s largest 501(c)(3) integrated care networks, today unveiled its One Hospice Model—a first-of-its-kind framework that preserves community-based hospice while adding the scale, innovation and accountability of a statewide system. “Families deserve hospice that puts mission before margin,” said Jonathan D. Fleece, President & CEO of Empath Health. “By uniting Florida’s most trusted not-for-profit hospices under one model, we keep local relationships intact and ensure every person facing serious illness receives Full Life Care—supported by the strength and expertise of an entire network.”

The model integrates seven locally known hospice brands—Empath Hospice, Hospice of Marion County, Suncoast Hospice, Suncoast Hospice of Hillsborough, Tidewell Hospice and Trustbridge (Hospice by the Sea and Hospice of Palm Beach County)—which collectively care for one in five hospice patients statewide. Five of these affiliates have served their communities for more than 40 years, delivering generations of compassionate, not-for-profit care.

Regional hubs in Tampa Bay, Sarasota, Palm Beach and Ocala keep decision-making local while enterprise teams provide centralized quality, technology and research support. Regional presidents Travis Fogle (Tampa Bay), Brad Perkins (Sarasota) and Tony Maxwell, PA (Ocala/Palm Beach) oversee clinical operations and community partnerships.

“By uniting Florida’s most trusted not-for-profit hospices under one model, we keep local relationships intact and ensure every person facing serious illness receives Full Life Care – supported by the strength and expertise of an entire network.”

While all Empath Health services are available through direct community access, families who begin care with an Empath-affiliated hospice gain direct referral into the wider Empath network of services—available regionally, when needed. This integrated approach allows patients to easily access Empath Home Health for skilled nursing at home; Empath Palliative Care for earlier symptom relief; Empath LIFE / PACE for comprehensive elder day-center support; Empath GUIDE for dementia education and caregiver coaching; EPIC HIV/AIDS Services for prevention, case management and housing; and Empath Grief Care, including Empath Blue Butterfly programs for children. The result is a coordinated Full Life Care journey—from the first serious illness conversations through loss and healing—thoughtfully adapted to each community’s resources and needs.

As policymakers and the public scrutinize hospice ownership, Empath offers a scalable not-for-profit alternative. The organization reinvests much of its revenue into care, workforce development and community programs, and publicly reports quality metrics that exceed national benchmarks. By pairing local leadership with statewide strength, the One Hospice Model offers a blueprint for mission-driven innovation at scale.

# # #

About Empath Health

Empath Health is a pioneering not-for-profit health network redefining healthcare through Full Life Care—supporting chronic, post-acute, end-of-life, and grief care needs across Florida. Its full spectrum of services includes home health, palliative care, all-inclusive elder care (PACE), HIV/STI prevention, grief support, and compassionate hospice care through seven programs: Empath Hospice, Hospice of Marion County, Suncoast Hospice, Suncoast Hospice of Hillsborough, Tidewell Hospice and Trustbridge (Hospice by the Sea and Hospice of Palm Beach County). With decades of trusted service and deep community roots, Empath Health reaches more than 81,000 people each year and serves one in five hospice patients statewide.

© 2025 This press release orginally appeared on Business Wire and is reprinted with permission. For more information or to request permission to print, please use the media contact above.

Help Those Impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton

by | Oct 10, 2024 | Partner News

How to Help

Cash is an effective and immediate way to help, allowing on-the-ground charities to purchase the supplies they need when they need them. 

    • The Salvation Army is providing emergency aid, food, drinks, emotional and spiritual care, and critical supplies to survivors and rescue workers in five states. There are no administration fees associated with Salvation Army donations and 100% of your donation goes directly to disaster relief. You can donate to the disaster relief fund here.
    • Mercy Chefs provide meal service across North Carolina. They are providing meals for hospital employees and patient families. You can donate here.
    • GoFundMe fundraisers are abundant right now, if you want to donate to a specific family. GoFundMe has a vetted group of Hurricane Helene requests and a separate Hurricane Relief Fund. You can donate here.
    • The American Red Cross allows you to donate specifically to people affected by the hurricanes, as a general donation to any disaster, or to a fund called “Where It is Needed Most.” The two general funds allow the Red Cross to use those funds as they need to and doesn’t run the risk of getting caught in an unusable fund. You can donate here.

Volunteering opportunities are available if you are near the areas impacted by the hurricanes.

    • The Salvation Army has both credentialed and non-credentialed volunteer opportunities in the emergency disaster areas. Get more information here.
    • Mercy Chefs is looking for volunteers in Asheville, NC and may have other opportunities available soon. You can sign up to volunteer here.
    • The American Red Cross has volunteer opportunities for blood drives, transportation, disaster teams, and shelters. You can find more information here.

Donations of clothing, furniture, home goods, and other needed items.

    • It is recommended that if you want to donate physical items, please wait a couple of weeks until the initial cash donations stop coming in and the volunteer organizations are able to assess the needs of each community. Physical items are not helpful until a family is permanently relocated and those items don’t have to be stored.

Additional resources, places to donate, and volunteer opportunities are easy to find online.

    • Before you do anything, make sure you are vetting the organization, especially if it’s not one that is nationally recognized like the Salvation Army or the Red Cross.
    • Look for volunteer opportunities with smaller organizations that may not get as much publicity as the Red Cross. For example, this site lists opportunities with local volunteer firefighters, Marion County medical reserve corps, and the Lake County department of health, among others.
    • The American Red Cross South Florida Region has a virtual volunteer opportunity to offer comfort to those affected by the storms. This is a great opportunity to help if you are not in the southern region and/or cannot donate.