Home Health & Hospice Week

Hospital closures of home health, hospice units continue.

It wasn't just the holidays keeping home care and hospice providers busy the last few months. Many agencies were involved in mergers, acquisitions, expansions, and closures. One of the more high-profile announcements was Humana's proposed acquisition of Kindred at Home (see Eli's HCW, Vol. XXVII, No. 2). Take a look at a sampling of other deals across the nation:

• A newly enlarged hospice affiliation in Ohio is stressing its nonprofit status to draw business. Ohio's Hospice, "a strategic partnership committed to sustaining not-for-profit, community based hospice care in Ohio," is adding Hospice of Fayette County, it says in a release. The affiliation founded in 2013 already includes Hospice of Dayton, Hospice of Butler & Warren Counties, Hospice of Miami County, Hospice of Central Ohio, Community Mercy Hospice, LifeCare Hospice, and Community Care Hospice.

"Our shared expertise and commitment to quality are evident in the sheer number of resources devoted to patient care, not to making a profit where many competitors focus," Ohio's Hospice Board Chair Greg Toman says in the release.

• Jacksonville, Florida-based Community Hospice is expanding its service area from five counties to 16, reports WJCT. The expansion covering "all of North-Central Florida" will result in 40-year-old Community Hospice serving about 200 patients per day, CEO Susan Ponder-Stansel estimates.
• Five Points Healthcare has merged with Broomhall, Pennsylvania-based Millenium Home Health Care, the Fulcrum Equity Partners portfolio company says in a release. The merged company will operate under Atlanta-based Five Points' name.

"This strategic merger expands the Five Points platform into the mid-Atlantic region and complements our existing southeastern presence," Fulcrum partner Tom Greer says in a release. Millenium operates two locations in Pennsylvania and one in Delaware. Five Points has home health operations in Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, along with hospice services in Tennes-see, the company says.

• Texas Home Health, an AccentCare Inc. company, has acquired Nurses Unlimited, the companies say in a release. "The purchase now allows AccentCare to serve patients and clients in every county across the entire state of Texas," the Dallasbased chain says. Nurses Unlimited, which serves about 3,600 patients and clients, will continue to operate under its name.
• Sarasota, Florida-based Stratum Health System, which owns Tidewell Hospice, has acquired Naples-based Avidity Home Health, according to press reports. Tidewell provides services in four Florida counties, while Avidity furnishes services in three others. Avidity will continue to operate under its name.
• Hiawatha Community Hospital in Kansas will close its home health agency by April 30, reports the Hiawatha World. "This decision is directly related to the regulatory and financial barriers set by Medicare which limits the hospital's ability to financially sustain a hospital based home health program," CEO Jeff Shelton said. "The decision to end offering home health services was very difficult and came only after the HCH Board of Trustees, Medical Staff and Leadership Team carefully reviewed the historic financial performance of this service-line and the reimbursement barriers created by being a Critical Access Hospital with a hospital based Home Health Agency."

NEK Multi-County Health CEO Kristen Watkins said in a statement that, "all over the state of Kansas, nonprofit Home Health organizations are closing their doors due to funding cuts and increased regulations. NEK Home Health and Hospice, like many others, operates our Home Health department at a loss that has, for 20 years, only been sustainable through our hospice revenues," reports the Sabetha Herald. Patients of Hiawatha's HHA likely will have trouble finding service, Watkins said.

• Fines of about $3.5 million related to an HHS Office of Inspector General audit of General Inpatient care have forced Hospice of Citrus and the Nature Coast in Florida to cut staff, put buildings up for sale, and consolidate services in its 12-county area, reports the Citrus County Chronicle.

HCNC Board Member Bill Dixon says GIP services were unfairly denied by "eager, inexperienced outside contractors" based on insufficient documentation, the newspaper reports. If HCNC can't keep up with its repayments, it may be forced to seek a buyer, COO Bonnie Saylor told the newspaper.

"Every medical provider now is so fearful of the government and what the government will do to us," Saylor told the newspaper. "It's like you're afraid to serve the public for fear of doing something wrong and ending up in trouble. It's created a real difficult world for hospice and what we do."

• Horizon Home Health Care in Farmington, New Mexico, has closed its doors, reports the Farmington Daily Times. That comes after the October 2017 closure of Northwest New Mexico Hospice and Home Health Care, the home care unit of Presbyterian Medical Services, also in the Four Corners area.

Although Horizon didn't comment on its closure, PMS said it shut down its hospice and home health services in part due to "difficulty recruiting and retaining ... the professional staff needed to sustain our home health and hospice agencies at a level we expect," the Times says. PMS also cited increased competition from other agencies opening.