Home Health & Hospice Week

Now, Atlanta-based Gentiva plans to buy Heartland hospice and home care agencies from Toledo, Ohio-based nonprofit health system ProMedica, the companies say in a release. The deal involves agencies in Ohio and Michigan, reports WTOL 11 News. The acquisition is valued at $710 million, according to press reports.

Gentiva has 30,000 staff serving more than 24,000 patients daily across 430 locations in 36 states, the company says. ProMedica has been undergoing financial difficulties and executive shake-ups, and recently shed its nearly 150 skilled nursing facilities, WTOL 11 notes.

Other recent deals include:

In Louisiana: UnitedHealth Group’s blockbuster $5.4 billion acquisition of Lafayette-based LHC Group Inc. has finally closed, according to press reports. The acquisition first announced in March 2022 stalled as the Federal Trade Commission investigated, but that investigation appears to have wrapped up favorably. LHC Group joins UnitedHealth’s Optum division.

In Wisconsin: St. Croix Hospice has opened a new branch in Chippewa Falls. The new location is the fourteenth in the state for the Oakdale, Minn.-based Midwest chain. “There is tremendous demand for hospice care in the Chippewa Valley, and our new Chippewa Falls branch is in the heart of this high-need region,” St. Croix Statewide Executive Director Rick Risler says in the release. St. Croix serves about 4,000 patients a day from 60 locations across 10 states, it says.

In Indiana: Two venerable nonprofit hospices have merged. Stillwater Hospice in Fort Wayne and Kosciusko Homecare and Hospice in Warsaw have combined operations to serve 12 counties from four locations, they say in a release. Rising operating and staffing costs contributed to the deal, according to press reports.

In Florida and Virginia: Two nonprofit hospices in two other states also plan to merge. Temple Terrace, Fla.-based Chapters Health System and Falls Church, Va.-based Capital Caring Health are affiliating, they say in a release. The combined providers will serve 35 Florida counties, four Georgia counties, two Maryland counties, 12 Virginia counties and four Virginia cities, and all eight wards of Washington D.C., they say.

In Washington: Eden Health is acquiring nonprofit Community Home Health & Hospice based in Longview for undisclosed terms. Employee-owned Eden operates in eight Western states and CHHH operates in Washington and Oregon, the companies say in a release. Turnover of operations is planned for May 1.

In Ohio: Addus HomeCare Corp.-owned Queen City Hospice has opened a new location in Fayetteville, reports the Brown County News. It joins other branches in Mason, Dayton, Columbus, and Cleveland. Columbus-based private equity firm Stonehenge Partners Inc. bought Queen City Hospice in 2018 (see HHHW by AAPC, Vol. XXVII, No. 12)

and Frisco, Texas-based Addus bought it in 2020 for $192 million (see HHHW by AAPC, Vol. XXIX, No. 44).

Also in Washington: Virginia Mason Franciscan Health and Amedisys’ Hospital at Home division Contessa have launched VMFH Home Recovery Care at St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma, they say in a release. Eligible patients at St. Joseph can choose Home Recovery Care instead of a hospital stay, they explain. “We are pleased to partner with Virginia Mason Franciscan Health to provide the region with greater access to high-quality care in the comfort of patients’ homes,” Contessa CEO Travis Messina says in the release.