Two publicly traded chains, LHC Group Inc. and Almost Family Inc., have completed their merger. "The transaction creates the second largest in-home healthcare provider in the country with an expanded geographic service territory of 36 states covering over 60 percent of the U.S. population aged 65 and over," they say in a release about the merger that was announced in November (see Eli's HCW, Vol. XXVI, No. 42). The all-stock deal for about $850 million nearly doubles the size of Lafayette, Louisiana based LHC to more than 780 locations, and the firm expects to do about $1.8 billion in revenues, reports The Advocate newspaper. The merger means LHC trails only Kindred at Home (formerly Gentiva) in revenues.