Hospice and senior services provider Empath Health is financially supporting clinical education in hospice and palliative care at the University of Southern Florida (USF).

The company has made a $50,000 commitment to supporting education efforts. Empath will provide $10,000 annually to USF’s Center for Hospice, Palliative Care and End-of-Life Studies.

This is just one of Empath Health’s initiatives to bolster its workforce in a time of staffing shortages.

“At Empath Health, we are absolutely doubling down on how important investing in our people is to achieve those goals and outcomes,” CEO Jonathan Fleece said at the Home Care 100 conference in Florida. “There are a lot of ways that we’re doing that. One that I’ll share is what we call our C3 group, which stands for our colleague, champion, council. Ultimately, it’s all the way across the organization, representing all levels to really listen to the needs of the front line.”

Clearwater, Florida-based Empath Health offers hospice, home health care, palliative care, grief services, Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), adult day services, primary care services and more. It is the parent company of 17 affiliates and two philanthropic foundations.

The funding will support educational programs, an annual conference and pilot funding to graduate students and faculty conducting research into hospice and palliative care.

Most medical, nursing and social work students receive little exposure to hospice or palliative care during their training, complicating providers’ recruitment efforts. 

A 2018 study showed that most students in clinical disciplines do not feel prepared to provide family care at the end of life. This has been a key factor driving hospice and palliative care workforce shortages for the past several years.