AccentCare Inc. has acquired Southeastern Health Care at Home from Chicago-based private equity firm Geneva Glen Capital, expanding its home health and hospice footprint in the Pennsylvania and Virginia markets. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

AccentCare is a portfolio company of the private equity firm Advent International, which purchased the provider from Oak Hill Capital Partners in 2019 for an undisclosed sum. Acquiring privately-owned provider Southeastern will add 12 locations across both states, with an additional location in Philadelphia. The home health provider also provides hospice, palliative and primary care to more than 3,100 patients throughout its service region, expanding since its inception in 1987.

Headquartered in Dallas, AccentCare expects that the transaction will establish a significant presence in Philadelphia and enhance the company’s hospice, home health and primary care services. The deal marks the company’s entry into the Virginia market.

“AccentCare is excited about the opportunities extended to us in not only the Philadelphia market, which is one of the largest home health markets in the country but also the state of Virginia, where we have not had a presence until now,” said AccentCare CEO Steve Rodgers. “Both organizations have a long legacy of closely aligning with renowned health systems and physician groups that seek coordinated, collaborative post-acute partners.”

AccentCare provides personal, non-medical care, skilled nursing, palliative care and hospice in more than 250 locations and serves upwards of 200,000 individuals across 31 states. The company operates under regional brand names, including AccentCare, Alliance for Health, Gareda, Guardian, HRS, Sta-Home, Southeastern Health Care at Home, and Texas Home Health.

AccentCare merged with Seasons Hospice & Palliative Care in Dec. 2020, making the combined organization the fourth-largest hospice provider in the nation according to Rodgers.

Hospice utilization among Medicare decedents in Pennsylvania was 49.3% in 2018, hovering just under the national average of 50.7%, according to the National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization. Hospice utilization hit 46.7% that year in Virginia.

The U.S. Census Bureau reported in 2009 that both Pennsylvania and Virginia’s senior populations are likely to “grow more rapidly than other components of the population.” The number of seniors 60 and older in Pennsylvania during 2012 totalled an estimated 2.7 million, or 21.3% of the state’s population. This is projected to grow to 27.5% by 2030. In 2012 the same age group made up roughly 17.7% of Virginia’s overall population, with projections that this number would climb to nearly 24% by 2030.

The Southeastern acquisition is a part of the company’s drive to create a seamless continuum of home-based serious illness care to support patients from diagnosis through the end of life. The merged AccentCare/Seasons enterprise is building itself into a home-based health system including the planned launch of hospital-at-home services.

“We’re excited to advance home care as a member of the AccentCare family and what this means to the patients and families we serve,” said Werner Freymann, Southeastern’s CEO. “From our earliest discussions with AccentCare leaders, it was clear we have a shared vision for providing exceptional care to our communities.”