Texas-based Jet Health has purchased San Antonio-based Signal Home Health & Hospice for an undisclosed sum, marking the company’s seventh acquisition since its founding in 2016. Private equity firms SV Health Investors and Health Enterprise Partners, partially own Jet Health, which financed the deal through a new line of debt through the investment bank Stifel.
The acquisition continues Jet Health’s strategy of co-locating new hospice operations with their home health services to create a larger continuum of home-based care. In addition to hospice and home health, the company provides skilled nursing care, physical, speech and occupational therapy, medical social services, and personal care services.
Jet Health’s footprint extends across Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and Idaho, with plans for continued expansion through acquisitions and de novos.
“[Signal] is right in the sweet spot of our growth strategy, to acquire home health and hospice companies in our targeted geographic area,” Jet Health Founder and Chairman Jim Glynn told Hospice News. “It’s a home health and hospice company that cares about its people and its service reputation. So it’s a bull’s eye for Jet.”
When considering acquisitions, Jet focuses on home health businesses with fewer than 250 patients on service and hospices with fewer than 100 patients, according to Glynn. Location was also a key factor in the decision. Jet Health is headquartered in Texas, and Signal’s hometown of San Antonio is the second-largest market for hospice care in the Lone Star State.
Texas ranked 15th among the states in hospice utilization, with 52.8% of Medicare decedents electing hospice in 2018, according to the National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization. The national average that year was 50.3%. Utah had the highest rate in the nation at 60.4%.
Jet has been active in the M&A market. The company purchased Hospice de la Luz in Albuquerque, N.M., earlier this year, and Texas-based Carrington Hospice Care in Sept. 2020. In 2019, Jet purchased Boise, Idaho-based First Choice Home Health and Hospice. Financial terms of these transactions were undisclosed.
Jet expects to complete more hospice acquisitions during 2021 and into 2022. The company has signed letters of intent on two assets, expected to close in the third quarter and the fourth, respectively, Glynn said.
“We’re prioritizing hospice. Part of our strategic plan is to add hospice to every market where we are already in home health, and we have a little bit more work to do in that area,” Glynn told Hospice News. “Of the eight locations where we’re providing home health, we have two additional gaps that we need to fill with hospice.”
Companies featured in this article:
Carrington Hospice Care, First Choice Home Health & Hospice, Health Enterprise Partners, Hospice de la Luz, Jet Health, Signal Home Health & Hospice, SV Health Investors