Spotlight On: Jonathan Fleece, CEO, Empath Health
April 2025 — Jonathan Fleece, CEO of Empath Health, shared with Invest: how the organization enhances care transitions and expands home-based services through technology and strategic partnerships. “Our partnership with Moffitt Cancer Center allows us to integrate into a patient’s care journey, ensuring they and their families receive the support they need,” said Fleece.
How does Empath Health support patients throughout their healthcare journey?
Empath Health provides comprehensive care that spans a patient’s entire healthcare journey, from diagnosis to end-of-life support. For individuals facing long-term illnesses like Alzheimer’s, we aim to be the first call they make. From day one, we help families plan for the road ahead, addressing medical, emotional, spiritual, and financial needs. We assist with everything from caregiver planning and estate management to personal care services that allow patients to remain in their homes as long as possible.
When home is no longer the best environment, we facilitate transitions to senior living communities while maintaining continuity of care. For those requiring advanced medical support but wishing to avoid nursing home placement, our PACE (Program for All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) offers medical services, social activities, and transportation, enabling individuals to receive comprehensive care while staying at home.
If a patient reaches the end-of-life stage, we provide hospice care, primarily in the home but also in inpatient settings when necessary. Beyond traditional hospice services, we support individuals with HIV/AIDS and sexual health needs through our EPIC program, offering treatment, prevention, and housing assistance.
We also provide grief and bereavement counseling to the broader community, supporting families who have lost loved ones unexpectedly or through rapid illness progression. Many of these services, including counseling, music therapy, and specialized disease support, are offered free of charge thanks to community and foundation support. Our goal is to ensure that every patient and family receives compassionate, personalized care at every stage of their journey.
What makes Tampa Bay unique in terms of healthcare delivery, and how is Empath Health positioned within it?
Tampa Bay is a rapidly growing, vibrant region, and to truly serve its needs, we must constantly study and adapt to its healthcare landscape. At Empath Health, we focus on providing “Full Life Care for All,” ensuring our services evolve alongside community needs. As a mission-driven not-for-profit, Empath Health prioritizes reinvestment in programs and partnerships that directly serve the region’s growing and diverse healthcare needs.
A major area of need in the Tampa Bay area is care for individuals with advanced, serious, and terminal illnesses. With our region’s demographics, more people require support during difficult health journeys. Our programs work closely with healthcare systems like BayCare and AdventHealth to ensure that when patients are discharged from the hospital, they transition smoothly into our full life care services. For example, a patient recovering from a heart attack or stroke may need long-term support to regain as much quality of life as possible.
For those facing terminal diagnoses, such as cancer patients at Moffitt Cancer Center, we provide a continuum of care, from home health and palliative care to end-of-life services. Our strategic partnership with Moffitt allows us to integrate into a patient’s care journey, ensuring they and their families receive the support they need.
Empath Health is also one of the region’s largest end-of-life care providers. We operate inpatient care centers within hospitals like Bayfront Health and St. Joseph’s, as well as standalone facilities. Whether patients are in senior living communities, hospitals, or our dedicated inpatient centers, we are committed to providing compassionate, comprehensive care so families never feel alone.
What is the current state of the healthcare sector in Tampa Bay, particularly regarding hospice services?
Tampa Bay has a strong healthcare system, but gaps remain — especially in care continuity. Too often, patients are discharged without proper post-acute care, leading to avoidable readmissions. Empath Health is working to close these gaps by strengthening relationships with healthcare providers and ensuring smoother transitions between hospital and home care.
We are investing in technology to improve efficiency and patient outcomes. By the end of this year, all Empath Health hospice and home health divisions will operate on a unified electronic medical record (EMR) system, allowing real-time tracking of patient needs and caregiver availability. If a nurse completes a visit in one neighborhood and another patient nearby requires urgent care, our system will assign the closest available clinician, reducing response times and improving access to care.
Another challenge is workforce development. We partner with local universities and colleges, including USF, to recruit and train new healthcare professionals. Our nurse residency program provides new graduates with specialized training in home-based and hospice care, ensuring they are well-prepared to meet the needs of our community.
Infrastructure also plays a role. As a home-based care provider, reducing travel time is critical. Traffic congestion can delay care, so we work with state and federal partners to advocate for infrastructure improvements that support healthcare access across the region.
What trends in home care and value-based healthcare do you see in the next few years?
Technology will be a driving force in improving home care, ensuring patients receive the right care at the right time. Real-time home monitoring systems can track physical and emotional health, identifying early warning signs of decline. For example, if a patient who normally walks 2,000 steps a day gradually declines to 1,500, we can schedule a check-in. If their activity suddenly drops to zero, that’s an urgent red flag requiring immediate intervention.
With this data feeding into a unified EMR, we are moving toward highly personalized medicine. By tracking real-time patient information, we can tailor care plans based on individual needs. At Empath Health, we extend this approach beyond the patient, considering the entire family — whether it’s a spouse or adult child caregiver — and adapting care to their specific circumstances. That’s a key distinction of our model: supporting not just the patient, but their loved ones as well.
How are you attracting and retaining top talent to address workforce gaps?
It starts with culture and mission. We seek individuals who want more than just a job — they want to make a meaningful impact. Our core values — Eternally Hopeful, Profoundly Helpful, Lovingly Truthful, Confidently Skillful, Courageously Impactful — guide our approach to both patient care and workforce development.
Once someone joins our team, we invest in them from day one. Our C3 Council (Colleague Champion Council) gives employees a direct voice in shaping policies, from benefits to culture initiatives. One example is our parental leave program, which was created in response to employee input and now supports both biological and adoptive parents.
Education and career development are also central to our retention strategy. We’ve expanded tuition reimbursement and scholarship opportunities, allowing employees to pursue certifications and advanced degrees. Our nurse residency program helps new graduates transition into the field with specialized training in Empath Health’s care model.
Beyond professional growth, we prioritize colleague well-being. After last year’s hurricanes, Helene and Milton, we deployed over $500,000 in assistance to help employees with housing, transportation, and emergency needs. By fostering a mission-driven culture and strong support systems, we are attracting and retaining top talent to provide extraordinary care.
What are your thoughts on healthcare costs, and how is Empath Health addressing this concern?
Healthcare costs are a significant concern for both patients and providers. I tend to look at costs in two ways: the cost to the payer — government programs like Medicare and Medicaid, as well as private insurance — and the cost to the consumer, meaning what comes directly out of a patient or family’s budget.
As a not-for-profit, we provide services regardless of a patient’s ability to pay. Our four foundations help fund programs that aren’t covered by insurance, such as music therapy, grief counseling, and pediatric hospice care. One example is our commitment to caring for infants born with severe conditions. Families don’t plan for pediatric hospice, and many don’t have insurance to cover it. Through community support, we ensure that no child or adult is denied compassionate care due to financial barriers.
On the payer side, better care often means lower costs. Unlike other industries where higher spending results in better service, healthcare works in reverse — the healthier we keep people at home, the less they rely on expensive hospital stays. By focusing on home-based and preventive care, we improve outcomes while reducing overall costs.
How can partners and companies support Empath Health’s mission?
We want to be here for generations to come, and community support plays a crucial role in making that happen. Our foundations rely on corporate sponsorships and philanthropic contributions to fund services like music therapy, Alzheimer’s programs, and support for uninsured patients. Florida alone has an estimated 580,000 diagnosed Alzheimer’s cases, a number expected to double in the next 20 to 25 years. Investments in research and care programs today will shape how we manage this growing need in the future.
Beyond funding, collaboration among healthcare providers is key to improving continuity of care. Too often, patients are discharged without proper follow-up, leading to preventable hospitalizations. By expanding interoperability of electronic health records and improving coordination among providers, we can improve transitions and ensure patients receive seamless, coordinated care.
For more information, visit:
