Home Health & Hospice Week

Plus: Hospitals figure in recent market developments.

A three-state hospice chain is enlarging its reach a bit more with a new acquisition.

Agape Care Group, backed by Charlotte, North Carolina-based Ridgemont Equity Partners, has acquired GHC Hospice for undisclosed terms, the Spartanburg, South Carolina-based regional provider says in a release. GHC was founded in 2014 and serves 25 counties in Georgia and South Carolina. GHC will continue to operate under its own name in the “near term,” Agape says.

Agape and its affiliates now serve over 85 percent of the counties in the state of Georgia, in addition to its North and South Carolina operations, the company notes. GHC’s “reach into more rural communities enables us to connect with more patients and families … in underserved geographies,” Troy Yarborough, Agape CEO, says in the release. Agape now serves about 3,600 patients with 1,450 employees, it says.

Ridgemont bought Agape from Chicago-based private equity firm The Vistria Group in 2021, after Vistria had backed the provider and its predecessor for three years (see HCW by AAPC, Vol. XXX, No. 38). Last year Agape purchased Serenity Hospice in Georgia (see HCW by AAPC, Vol. XXX, No. 27), and this year has acquired Lanier Hospice in Georgia (see HCW by AAPC, Vol. XXXI, No. 4) and Hospice of the Carolina Foothills in North Carolina (see HCW by AAPC, Vol. XXXI, No. 19).

Other recent deals include:

In Texas: St. David’s HealthCare at Home and St. David’s Hospice & Family Care in Austin are on the lookout to expand. (Reminder: St. David’s parent company HCA Healthcare bought an 80 percent stake in Brookdale Health Care Services from Brookdale Senior Living last year [see HCW by AAPC, Vol. XXX, No. 9], and their joint home health and hospice businesses in Austin were rebranded as St. David’s this summer [see HCW by AAPC, Vol. XXXI, No. 28]). There are plans to expand these business lines for St. David’s, reports the Austin American-Statesman newspaper. “We’ll be working with Brookdale to do that investing together, ramping up staffing, expanding geographic locations or staging of staff to make sure we can address the increasing demands we have,” David Huffstutler, CEO of St. David’s HealthCare, tells the American-Statesman.

In Maryland: LHC Group Inc. and University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) have signed a definitive agreement to form a new joint venture partnership, the Lafayette, Louisiana-based chain says in a release. The JV will include multiple locations serving 20 Maryland counties and Baltimore. LHC expects to purchase majority ownership and assume management responsibility in the fourth quarter of 2022, it says. “Our partnership with LHC Group is an important step forward in our journey to continue improving access to post-acute care for our patients, which is an increasingly essential element in the continuum of care that we provide,” UMMS CEO Mohan Suntha says in the release. LHC serves patients in 37 states and the District of Columbia with 29,000 employees. The chain also partners with more than 400 hospitals and health systems, it says.