Charter Health Acquires Two Hospices in Colorado, Utah

Post-acute company Charter Health Care Group has purchased Vitality Home Healthcare in Denver and Salt Lake City-based Heartwood Home Health & Hospice for an undisclosed sum. These transactions make four hospice acquisitions to date in 2020 for Charter Health.

Charter is a portfolio company of the private equity firm Pharos Capital Group. The company provides hospice, home health, private duty nursing, complex care management and palliative care services. Charter cares for more than 3,600 patients from multiple locations across Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, and Utah. 

Vitality Home Health Care does business as Phoenix Home Care & Hospice.

“We are pleased to add Phoenix and Heartwood to Charter’s portfolio. We look to partner with teams that share our mission of leading the home care and hospice industry toward the best solutions for patients, families, and caregivers,” Steve J. Larkin, Charter’s CEO, said. “As always, our vision remains focused on improving patient outcomes and quality of care while reducing the total cost of care provided to chronic, complex, and end-of-life patients.”

The management teams of the acquired organizations will remain in place following the transactions. They provide similar forms of care to Charter as well as pediatric programs.

In March, Charter acquired St. Luke’s Home Hospice in Las Vegas and Phoenix-based Arizona Select Hospice. Both of those providers were part of the VeraCare Hospice system. Financial terms were undisclosed.

Demographic tailwinds will likely fuel further growth in both hospice and home health care in Vitality’s home state of Colorado. About 13.8% of Colorado’s nearly 5.8 million residents are older than 65, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This percentage is expected to double by 2050.

Hospice utilization among Medicare decedents in Colorado reached 53.3% in 2018, the 13th highest in the nation, according to the National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO). The national average that year was slightly higher than 50%.

Utah has the highest hospice utilization among the states, reaching 60.4% in 2018. The number of seniors in the state, which represented 9.5% of the population in 2017 according to the U.S. Census Bureau, will likely double by 2060.

“We believe end-of-life and home health services have never been more important as Americans face continuing pressure from the COVID-19 pandemic. Charter is committed to continuing its practice of providing professional, compassionate care while taking precautions to keep its patients and providers as safe as possible,” said Bob Crants, founding partner and chief investment officer of Pharos. “In our view, the Company’s track record in Southern California and across the Southwest makes it well positioned to bring its proven model to additional core metropolitan markets, where it plans to grow organically and through partnerships with leading companies.”