Disruption Hits Home Health & Hospice M&A
At the start of the year, the biggest disruption expected in the Home Health & Hospice sector was the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM), a reimbursement overhaul introduced by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on January 1, 2020. The impact on small agency owners was expected to be tough, with many industry insiders predicting a wave of bankruptcies, closures, and sales in the first year of PDGM. That would have been disruptive for the M&A market, but it wasn’t expected to last, once companies adjusted to the changes in rates and cash flow. Now, with the COVID-19 pandemic more than 100 days into its march across America, PDGM seems like the least of the... Read More »
Amedysis Expands its Hospice Footprint
Amedysis, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMED) is expanding hospice services. The Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based home care company just acquired AseraCare Hospice in Plano, Texas. Hospice has been an increasing focus for Amedysis, which has long concentrated on personal home care services. Founded in 1994, AseraCare Hospice cares for more than 2,100 patients daily and employs more than 1,200 hospice professionals in 44 locations across 14 states, generating approximately $117 million in annual revenues. It is the hospice subsidiary of skilled nursing facility operator Golden Living, formerly Beverly Enterprises. Amedysis agreed to a purchase price of $235 million for 100% ownership. The price includes a $32... Read More » Bristol Hospice Trades with Healthy Living
Despite the challenges of the Patient-Driven Groupings Model and the Covid-19 pandemic, March is usually a good month for mergers and acquisitions in the Home Health & Hospice sector. To date, seven deals are on the books for the month and 19 for the first quarter. Two deals involved Bristol Hospice and Healthy Living Network, LLC, which traded assets in some western states. Salt Lake City-based Bristol Hospice, a portfolio company of Webster Equity Partners, paid an undisclosed sum for Healthy Living Network’s Sojourn Hospice & Palliative Care, which runs eight programs in Salt Lake City, Sacramento, Freso, East Bay, San Jose, Modesto, Redding and San Diego. The Sojourn... Read More »
Home Health & Hospice Deal Flow Is Slow but Steady
Although Covid-19 has brought the U.S. economy to a halt over the past few weeks, there is still some healthcare M&A activity to be found, even in the Home Health & Hospice sector. So far for the first quarter, 16 deals have been made public, compared with 21 for Q1: 2019, according to our Deal Search Online database. It’s a 27% drop, but that’s a difference of five deals in extraordinarily different market conditions. We’ll take what we can get. Earlier in March, Charter Health Care Group, a portfolio company of Pharos Capital Group, acquired two hospice service providers from VeraCare Hospice, St. Luke’s Home Hospice LLC and Arizona Select Hospice LLC. St.... Read More »
Hot Healthcare Sectors for Investment, Growth & Consolidation in 2020
Every year, starting in November, the crystal balls come out and the prognostications begin. What will the new year bring? Who or what will make out better and who or what will not? We talked with Gary Herschman, a member of Epstein Becker Green’s Healthcare and Life Sciences practice, about the healthcare sectors he and his firm are watching in 2020. Here are their predictions for 2020. Health Care M&A: What do you see as the biggest themes in the healthcare industry this year? There are a lot of moving parts, from the discovery of new drugs to the shifting attention to post-acute care. Gary Herschman: We see three key “drivers” of health industry transformation that are already... Read More »