Eli's Hospice Insider

2 nonprofits merge in Tarheel State.

Two publicly traded home care and hospice chains are making deals.

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.

And in Texas, a subsidiary of Cornerstone Healthcare Inc., Ensign Group Inc.’s home health and hospice portfolio subsidiary, has acquired the assets of All County Home Care and Hospice in Boerne, Texas, Mission Viejo, California-based Ensign says in a release.

With the acquisition, Cornerstone subsidiaries now operate 24 home health operations, 25 hospice operations, and seven home care operations across 12 states, Ensign notes. “Cornerstone is actively seeking additional opportunities to acquire both well-performing and struggling home health, hospice, and home care operations across the United States,” the company adds.

Take a look at other recent mergers and acquisitions:

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 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, reportsCapeCod.com. Cape Cod VNA has taken over HopeHealth hospice patients on Martha’s Vineyard, reports the Vineyard Gazette.

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