Home Health & Hospice Week

Chain’s hospice locations will grow to 190 in 35 states.

National chain Amedisys Inc. is making a serious investment in its hospice presence.

Through one of its wholly owned subsidiaries, Amedisys has agreed to acquire Homecare Preferred Choice Inc., doing business as AseraCare Hospice. Plano, Texas-based AseraCare serves more than 2,100 patients daily with 1,200 staff across 44 locations in 14 states, and generates about $117 million in annual revenues, Amedisys says in a release.

Under the agreement expected to close June 1, Amedisys will acquire 100 percent of the ownership interests in AseraCare for $235 million in cash, including a $32 million tax asset.No CARES Act funding is going toward the purchase, the company takes pains to point out in the release. After the deal closes, Amedisys will have 190 hospice locations in 35 states, with an average daily census of about 14,000 patients and 7,000 hospice employees.

Last September, AseraCare won a major federal appeals court victory in a long-running whistleblower lawsuit alleging the for-profit chain served patients who weren’t terminally ill (see Eli’s HCW, Vol. XXIX, No. 33).

Amedisys has been building its hospice business line for a while, including its $340 million acquisition of 11-state chain Compassionate Care Hospice in 2018 and its acquisition of RoseRock Healthcare in Oklahoma for an undisclosed amount last year (see Eli’s HCW, Vol. XXVIII, No. 8).