20-year legal executive joins Empath Health

A 20-year executive recently joined Empath Health to oversee the legal, compliance, public policy and legislative affairs teams. 

Christy Hendricks is the new general counsel and chief mission legal officer for the nonprofit hospice organization. The Clearwater-based entity, which is also the parent of Suncoast Hospice and Tidewell Hospice, has over 22,000 people enrolled in its full-life care services throughout Florida, including locations in Sarasota, Lakewood Ranch, Bradenton, Venice and Fort Myers. 

Hendricks steps into the role with in-house legal counsel experience specifically for nonprofit health care systems. She also is licensed to practice law in four states. 

“Christy brings extensive expertise gained working for large nonprofit healthcare systems like ours,” Empath Health CEO Rafael Sciullo says in a news release. “She also has a deep understanding of Empath’s mission for serving our communities with full life care for all.”

The new senior executive was most recently the chief legal officer at OU Medicine, a division affiliated with the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. In that role, Hendricks established the first law department there and was a key legal adviser for the system’s clinical integration with the College of Medicine’s physician practice group and clinics.

“We look forward to partnering with Christy on many projects including regulatory matters, corporate support services, clinical service line support and plans for future growth,” says Jonathan Fleece, president of Empath Health. “She will help us shape Empath Health’s future.”