Fleece becomes CEO of Empath Health and launches One Hospice initiative

Jonathan Flees is the newly appointed CEO of Florida-based nonprofit Empath Health following the retirement of his predecessor Rafael Squillo earlier this week.

Empath provides hospices, home health care, primary care, palliative care, PACE, AIDS and sexual wellness care, and adult day services to a total of more than 23,000 people. The organization is the parent company of 17 affiliates and two charitable foundations.

Flees joined Empath through a 2020 merger with Stratum Health, where he was CEO. The son of a nurse and a priest, Flies said he learned early on the importance of ministry.

“I really grew up in healthcare and that has always resonated with me. We were a family of employees, and it was just a wonderful sector,” said Flies in an interview with Hospice News. “When it comes to what brought me to the hospice, I tell the story that the hospice really found me. I didn’t look for a hospice.”

Empath Health Empath Health
Empath Health CEO Jonathan Flees

Flies began his career as a healthcare lawyer. In 2011, he coauthored The New Age: America’s Future of Health Care with futurist David Hole, in which he explored the path the system will take in the coming years.

But what brought him to the hospice was the bereavement he and his family received after the loss. This led him to become a hospice volunteer and then a member of the board of directors for Tidewell Hospice in Florida, now an Empath affiliate. Over time, his healthcare career began to move in a new direction.

Like Fleece, Tidewell, a former Stratum subsidiary, moved to Empath after the merger. Empath also offers hospice care through Suncoast Hospice, Empath Hospice, Marion County Hospice, and Hillsborough Suncoast Hospice.

Among Flees’ priorities as he takes the helm is the One Empath, One Hospice initiative, which kicks off this year.

“In order for us to achieve the quality and care outcomes we aspire to, and to achieve our financial sustainability, we must move forward towards One Hospice as a strategic imperative,” said Flies. “It’s basically a standard that standardizes our care models, our support services and our infrastructure (like EMR systems). It is also high on the 2023 agenda.”

The initiative will not include rebranding of old branches, Flies told Hospice News.

But the hospice will not be the only area of ​​activity for the new CEO. The company is partnering with 10 other post-acute care providers to create the Accountable Care Organization (ACO), Responsive Care Partners, including several hospice and palliative care operators.

Empath is also ramping up its investments in care models such as PACE and adult day services. Last November, he opened a new adult day center, including a veterans’ services complex.

A subsidiary of Suncoast acquired its PACE program in 2012, prior to the creation of Empath in 2014. Under the wing of Empath, the program continued to expand.

“Historically, health care has been so fragmented, fragmented and uncoordinated. This increases costs. This reduces the results. This makes the patient experience less than ideal,” said Flies. “It sort of brings us back to what Empath and wholesome care is really about, to bring healthcare closer together and improve care coordination, care navigation, and achieve better outcomes for less.”

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