Literature Review

Enhabit concludes review of strategic alternatives Valdosta Daily Times; Press Release; 5/8/24 Enhabit, Inc., a leading home health and hospice provider, today announced Enhabit’s Board of Directors (the “Board”) has concluded the Company’s strategic review process, announced in August 2023, which was overseen by the Board with assistance from its financial and legal advisors, Goldman Sachs and Sidley Austin, respectively. After evaluating a full range of strategic alternatives, including a potential sale, merger or other transaction, the Board unanimously determined that continuing to execute on the Company’s strategic plan as an independent, public company is in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders at this time.

Amedisys to sell 100 locations to advance UnitedHealth group deal Hospice News; by Holly Vossel; 5/8/24 Amedisys Inc. has agreed to divest upwards of 100 home health and hospice locations to an undisclosed private equity buyer as the company addresses regulators’ antitrust concerns in its pending acquisition by the UnitedHealth Group’s (UNH) health care services arm Optum. The news came in a recent social media post from The Capitol Forum. Selling off some of Amedisys’ locations in overlapping markets within Optum’s service region may help push the transaction forward amid mounting regulatory concerns. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is mulling a possible lawsuit to block the acquisition, citing potential antitrust issues related to the deal. The concerns center around the ability for other providers to compete if Optum and Amedisy combine their geographic footprints. 

Second Opinion Expert announces strategic relationship with Intra Care Home Health Providers Cision PRWeb; by SecondOpinionExpert, Inc / PRNewswire; 5/3/24 SecondOpinionExpert, Inc. (SOE), a leading healthcare technology company, announced today that it has formed a strategic relationship with Intra Care Home Health Providers, Inc. and its affiliated home health and hospice companies. ... Intra Care Home Health Services, Inc., a Los Angeles, CA based healthcare company, along with the related Intra Care SFV, Inc., Specialized Home Health Services, Inc., and Intra Care Hospice, Inc., (Intra Care) will all work with SOE as part of this relationship.

Pennant acquires Utah home health and hospice provider Pennant Group Press Release, Eagle, Idaho; 5/1/24 The Pennant Group, Inc., the parent company of the Pennant group of affiliated home health, hospice, home care and senior living companies, today announced that it has acquired South Davis Home Health and South Davis Hospice (“South Davis”), which provides skilled home health and hospice services in Davis County, Utah. “This acquisition provides us with an opportunity to further expand in the state of Utah, and will complement our agencies throughout central and northern Utah,” said Brent Guerisoli, Chief Executive Officer of Pennant.

Cigna Medicare Advantage sale advances as company raises outlook Modern Healthcare; by Lauren Berryman; 5/2/24 Cigna Group has taken a big step forward to exit the Medicare Advantage business, a strategy that may pay off given industry headwinds. ... The deal, announced in January for $3.3 billion, is on track to close in the first quarter of 2025, he said. Medicare Advantage carriers, including heavyweights CVS Health and Humana, are battling pressures related to higher medical costs, heightened regulatory scrutiny and slower enrollment growth.

CVS buys Medicare Advantage brokerage Modern Healthcare; by Nona Tepper; 4/30/24 CVS Health paid an undisclosed sum to acquire Hella Health, according to the Medicare Advantage brokerage's founder. Hella Health debuted in 2020 and claims to offer more than 3,000 Medicare plans from insurers such as CVS Health subsidiary Aetna, UnitedHealth Group subsidiary UnitedHealthcare and Humana.  

TRU Community Care and St. Paul’s Senior Services explore strategic partnership to transform senior care landscape My Prime Time News, Lafayette, CO; 4/29/24TRU Community Care and St. Paul’s Senior Services are exploring affiliation as two well-established nonprofit healthcare providers in Colorado and California, respectively. Under the leadership of Scott Gresser, President and CEO of TRU Community Care and Michael McHale, President and CEO of St. Paul’s Senior Services, organizational integration would allow TRU and St. Paul’s to expand the serious illness continuum of care that each currently provides, including senior services from independent living to memory care, PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly), palliative and hospice care, and community support programs such as bereavement services. 

Signify Health President: ‘We’re just scratching the surface’ on what can be done in the home Home Health Care News; by Andrew Donlan; 4/26/24 Signify Health was purchased by CVS Health for $8 billion in March 2023. Now, it’s one of the core tenants of CVS Healthspire, the health care services segment that CVS executives are banking on to drive future growth for the company. Paymon Farazi, the president of Signify Health, recently joined Home Health Care News’ Disrupt podcast to talk about Signify’s direction over a year after the CVS deal was closed, how the company could work with traditional home-based care providers in the future and where Farazi sees Signify – and health care – headed in the near- and long-term future.

The M&A strategies behind HouseWorks, Care Advantage and PurposeCare

Analysts not ruling out Cigna, Humana mergerBecker's Payer Issues, by Rylee Wilson; 4/22/24A merger between Humana and Cigna could still be in the cards according to one analyst, Bloomberg reported April 22. "The math now works for a [Cigna and Humana] fusion," Jeffries analyst David Windley wrote April 22. Since the two companies abandoned a proposed merger in December, Cigna's stock prices have risen by 37% and Humana is down 31%, according to Bloomberg. Cigna could strike a deal to acquire Humana for around $420 per share, Mr. Windley wrote in a note to clients. An acquisition would add to Cigna's growth if it does not pay more than $470 per share for the company, according to Jeffries.

Oaks sells nursing home to national operator The Times and Democrat, by Gene Zaleski; 4/13/24 The Oaks Healthcare, the nursing home segment of The Oaks of Orangeburg (SC), has sold its nursing home services to Cascade Capital Group, a Skokie, Illinois-based private health care real estate investment and asset management firm. ... The Oaks will become PACS' 25th nursing home in the state and will join over 220 other nursing homes that PACS operates throughout the country. ... [The Oaks of Orangeburg manager] Clay Fowler said the changes will enable a greater focus on the PACE program. The program was rebranded as the Orangeburg Senior Helping Center-A PACE Healthcare Program in February 2022.

HCA Healthcare faces more Mission Health-related allegations Modern Healthcare, by Alex Kacik; 4/9/24Buncombe County in North Caroline seeks to join state Attorney General Josh Stein’s (D) lawsuit against HCA Healthcare alleging the health system shirked its Mission Health acquisition agreement. When HCA acquired Asheville, North Carolina-based Mission for $1.5 billion in 2019, Stein approved the transaction as long as HCA maintained services and increased behavioral health capacity, among other conditions. Stein in December sued HCA, alleging the Nashville, Tennessee-based for-profit hospital chain has failed to meet those terms. 

California bill would impose more controls on private equity investments in healthcare McKnights Senior Living, by Kathleen Steel Gaivin; 4/9/24 A bill under consideration by the California State Legislature would “add scrutiny on private equity companies when considering healthcare investments, amplifying the pressure already imposed by enforcement agencies in California and throughout the country,” attorneys from Polsinelli told the McKnight’s Business Daily on Monday. ... According to attorneys at Sidley Austin law firm, the legislation would affect “direct and indirect purchases of a material amount of assets and operations of a healthcare facility or provider; changes in voting control of a healthcare facility or provider; or direct and indirect changes in control over the healthcare services or operations of a healthcare facility or provider.”