Home Health & Hospice Week

Plus: Nonprofit hospices merge.

The home care and hospice markets are busier than ever.

Check out these recently announced deals around the nation:

In Pennsylvania and New Jersey: National chain LHC Group Inc. will form a joint venture with Geisinger Home Health and Hospice in Pennsylvania and AtlantiCare Home Health and Hospice at Geisinger in New Jersey, the company says in a release. LHC will purchase majority ownership of Geisinger’s home health and hospice services and assume management responsibility when the joint venture agreements are complete in April and June, respectively. LHC partners with 340 hospitals across the U.S. in joint ventures, it says.

In Maryland: Atlanta-based home care chain Aveanna Healthcare will purchase the home care division of Columbia, Maryland-based Maxim Healthcare Services for undisclosed terms, the companies say in a release. Aveanna specializes in pediatric home care, but “as a result of overwhelming demand for the quality of care we consistently give, Aveanna has also been providing more and more adult home care services,” the company says on its website. Aveanna has more than 200 locations in 23 states, it says.

In Oregon: Regional chain Signature Health- care at Home will acquire Samaritan Health Services’ home health division March 1, Wilson­ville-based Signature says in a release. “We are extremely eager to expand our home health services to the coastal region,” a Signature executive says in the release. Signature operates in 30 communities throughout Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Utah.

In Arizona: College Station, Texas-based Traditions Health has acquired Reflections Hospice and Palliative Care, a division of Centrix Health Resources, in Mesa for undisclosed terms. “This acquisition marks the tenth bolt-on executed by Traditions Health since first partnering with Dorilton Capital in 2011,” says the chain previously operating in Texas and California.

In Kansas: Integrity Home Care + Hospice has opened a location in Fort Scott, it says in a release. Integrity operates in Kansas and Missouri.

In North Carolina: Hospice and Palliative Care of Alamance-Caswell and Hospice and Palliative Care of Greensboro plan to merge operations by October, the providers say in a release. The hospices serve about 3,000 patients combined. “A growing number of for-profit hospices are entering the Triad market, while Medicare changes are impacting how hospice care is reimbursed,” HPCAC CEO Peter Barcus says. “This alignment between our two organizations will help ensure our communities have high-quality, not-for-profit hospice care for years to come.”

In Massachusetts: Hyannis-based health system Cape Cod Healthcare and Rhode Island- based HopeHealth have merged their hospice services on the Cape Islands under the Cape Cod umbrella, according to news reports. HopeHealth is transitioning all of its Cape and Martha’s Vineyard outpatient hospice services and its inpatient McCarthy Care Center in Sandwich to Cape Cod Healthcare in a noncash transfer of assets, reports CapeCod.com. Cape Cod VNA has taken over HopeHealth hospice patients on Martha’s Vineyard, reports the Vineyard Gazette.