Select Medical Corp. (NYSE: SEM) has entered the hospice and home health market through Select at Home, a new joint venture with Alternate Solutions Health Network (ASHN) designed to extend the care continuum after patients are discharged from Select Medical’s specialty hospitals.
Pennsylvania-based Select Medical is a national provider of inpatient medical rehabilitation, long term care, outpatient physical therapy, and occupational medicine. ASHN specializes in post-acute care with a business model that uses joint ventures with centralized operations and a common software platform.
“Our decision to enter home health and hospice is based on our unique position as the preferred post-acute partner to nearly 20 exceptional health care and academic centers across the United States,” Shelly Eckenroth, vice president of communications and marketing for Select Medical, told Hospice News. “We developed our home health and hospice strategy based on responding to the needs of many of our existing partners.”
The two joint venture partners are currently conferring to determine in which regional markets Select at Home will open, according to Eckenroth. They expect the hospice and home health operations to begin later this year and did not disclose revenue or patient census expectations for the joint venture.
Select Medical anticipates forming additional joint ventures to expand its hospice and home health business further, in addition to establishing de novo locations.
“We are talking with our existing joint venture partners who have expressed an interest in Select at Home,” Eckenroth said. “Select Medical has made an investment in ASHN. However, separate joint ventures will be created to operate in local markets.”
Last year, Select Medical formed two separate joint ventures with University of California San Diego Health and Vibra Healthcare LLC, to operate a critical illness recovery hospital and an inpatient rehabilitation hospital.
ASHN partners with a wide range of health care organizations as well as insurance companies and senior living centers to develop a collaborative post-acute continuum of care with an emphasis on technology, efficiency, and quality.
“Our experience partnering with health systems, synergistic culture, and focus on quality, innovation and efficiency will offer Select Medical and its partners access to integrated home health and hospice capabilities through Select At Home,” ASHN Co-CEO David Ganzsarto said.