Transitions has acquired Pilgrimage Hospice in Pittsburgh for an undisclosed amount. The deal marks the company’s first entry into the Pennsylvania market as it executes plans for multi-state expansion. Transitions Hospice, a portfolio company of the Transitions Group, expects to enter three additional new states by the first quarter of 2022.
Pilgrimage serves patients in eight Pennsylvania counties, concentrated in the southeastern region. Former National Football League Quarterback Bruce Gradkowski of the Pittsburgh Steelers founded the company.
“We really look for smaller hospices that have some small foot wedge under the marketplace and have the ability to pivot and change,” Transitions CEO Jim Palazzo told Hospice News. “Our model usually lends to rapid growth in any market that we go into.”
The Pilgrimage transaction is a move eastward for Transitions’ footprint, which historically has been concentrated in Illinois and Indiana. In August the company also entered the Michigan market with a de novo in the City of Troy.
Currently, Transitions is eyeing target markets in 10 additional states, Palazzo said. The company is examining opportunities in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio, with ambitions to move into the Mid-Atlantic states and the South.
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.
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 U.S. Census Bureau reported in 2009 that Pennsylvania senior population is likely to grow more rapidly than other components of the population. The number of seniors 60 and older in Pennsylvania during 2012 reached an estimated 2.7 million, or 21.3% of the state’s population. This is projected to grow to 27.5% by 2030.
Hospice utilization among Medicare decedents in Pennsylvania was 49.3% in 2018, just under the national average of 50.7%, according to the National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization.
“We really felt that the Pittsburgh market was really in need of quality home-based advanced illness care, and they just didn’t have a lot of it out there,” Palazzo said. “Our primary palliative home based program is really something that was very much needed in that market space.”
Companies featured in this article:
Pilgrimage Hospice, Transitions Group, Transitions Home Medical Group, Transitions Hospice
