Barbara Jacobsmeyer, president of inpatient hospitals for Encompass Health (NYSE: EHC), will succeed April Anthony as the company’s CEO of Home Health and Hospice, effective immediately. Anthony departed the company on June 18.
Jacobsmeyer takes the helm at a time of extensive change at Encompass. In addition to transition in leadership, the company is considering a repositioning of its home health and hospice business, including a potential spin off or sale. The company plans to update investors on the repositioning in late July.
“It’s an honor to be named CEO of Home Health and Hospice,” said Jacobsmeyer. “I look forward to building on our strong foundation developed by April [Anthony] and her broad and deep team. We will continue to provide high-quality, cost-effective home health care and hospice services to our patients.”
Anthony founded Encompass Home Health & Hospice in 1998 as her second home health venture and has led the company as it grew from a single start-up location to a large player in the industry with a national presence. She was previously the owner and CEO Liberty Health Services and prior to that, she was founder and CEO of Homecare Homebase.
Jacobsmeyer joined Encompass in 2007 as central region president. At the time, Encompass Health was known as HealthSouth. She has also served as CEO of the Rehabilitation Hospital of St. Louis and chief operating officer of Des Peres Hospital. Rehabilitation Hospital was a partnership between Health South and BJC HealthCare.
The Encompass hospice segment brought in $50.6 million in revenues during the first quarter of the year, up 5.4% from $48 million in Q1 2020. The company operates 82 hospice and 241 home health locations across 39 states in the United States and Puerto Rico.
Despite these changes, Encompass remains focused on hospice growth, with a number of acquisitions in its pipeline. They recently acquired Frontier Home Health & Hospice, giving Encompass 11 new hospice and nine home health locations in the Alaska, Colorado, Montana, Washington and Wyoming markets. Frontier earned nearly $36 million during 2020. The company expects further acquisitions to complete this year, including hospice transactions.
“Barb is a proven leader with extensive healthcare operating experience,” said Mark Tarr, president and CEO of Encompass Health. “Supported by an award-winning culture and innovative technologies, the home health and hospice business is poised for continued success. We are confident that Barb is the right person to lead this business going forward.”
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