Transitions Hospice Poised for Expansion in Multiple States

Huntley, Ill.-based Transitions Hospice will be spreading its wings over several new markets in the coming months, including entry into more than one additional states. The hospice and palliative care provider is expanding via de novos as well as forthcoming acquisitions.

In concert with the growing footprint, Transition is building up its palliative care business through new referral relationships. The palliative program is operated through a company branded as Transitions Home Medical Group. The bulk of their patient population is located in the Chicago and Indianapolis metropolitan areas.

Transitions Hospice is a portfolio company of the Transitions Group, which also holds skilled nursing, home health, medical equipment and therapy assets.

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Transitions is focusing on the Midwest region as it seeks out new growth opportunities and closes geographic gaps in its service area, which currently is concentrated in Illinois and Indiana. The hospice expects to stretch into neighboring states in addition to a possible push toward the East, Transitions Home Medical Group President Trish Benson told Hospice News. 

“We have recently partnered with two other groups that are going to be coming on our services that will take our platform to a much higher volume of patients, and we’re also moving into a couple additional states within this year. That will include both our hospice and palliative care business lines,” Benson said. “The opportunities presented themselves, and it was a natural progression of the services we already provide.”

Transitions Home Medical Group President Trish Benson

Transitions’ recent partnerships include a major hospital system and a large oncology practice.

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The forthcoming expansion builds on steps taken during 2020. The company launched two de novos last year, one in northwest Indiana and a second in the Illinois state capitol of Springfield. In addition to its Indiana operations, the company serves 38 counties in the Land of Lincoln.

Transitions Founder and CEO Jim Palazzo established the company after working for more than a decade in the skilled nursing industry. When his father became ill and entered hospice, he and his family did not receive the quality of care they were expecting, Palazzo told Hospice News in July 2020. That experience led him to start his own operation.

Despite the challenges brought on by COVID-19, Transitions continued to build up its business during the pandemic. As will many providers in the health care space, telehealth was a key component.

“In the long term, it’s going to create better connectivity to our patients and therefore better patient outcomes and prevention of hospitalizations,” Kuljit Kapur, M.D., Transitions’ chief medical officer. “It was definitely beneficial to the patients and families, and that process relates to cost savings as well.”

Kuljit Kapur, M.D., Transitions’ Chief Medical Officer

Transitions expects to leverage telehealth and other technologies such as data analytics and remote patient monitoring as it begins to work with Medicare and other payers within value-based payment initiatives.

According to Benson, adoption of these systems have helped support increased patient and family satisfaction and reductions in high-acuity care, key metrics for demonstrating value to payers and referral sources.

“We’ve just had the experience of increasing our telehealth services within our palliative care business, and we have seen an increase in patient satisfaction, which has then resulted in improved patient outcomes,” Benson said. “Those patients — especially those who are suffer from chronic illnesses — are seeing lower hospitalization and readmission rates due to us being able to come in between in-person visits and provide that telehealth service.”

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